Archaeologist John Vincent Bellezza examines one of the earliest known figurative images from the Himalayas. This image was carved at a time when agriculture and herding had just begun in the high valleys, and hunting still had immense prestige and was tied to ritual importance. Persistent images found on such stones connect this Ladakh valley to broader Himalayan and Eurasian visual cultures and practices, and many still appear in Himalayan rituals today.
Bon is an indigenous religion of Tibet. Originally, Bon were a group of non-Buddhist ritual specialists in the court of the Tibetan emperors. From the eleventh century onward, an organized religion called Yungdrung Bon, or “Eternal Bon,” took shape. Yungdrung Bon developed in dialogue with Buddhism, incorporating deities called buddhas, scriptures modeled on the Buddhist canon, monks, and the establishment of monasteries. Followers of Yungdrung Bon trace their own origins to a founder called Tonpa Shenrab, who arrived from the semi-mythical land of Zhangzhung in western Tibet. The word “Bon” can also refer to the many non-organized indigenous religious practices, including the worship of mountain deities and making namkha. A follower of Bon is called a Bonpo.
Historians roughly divide human prehistory into three ages according to individual civilizations’ use of technology: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. According to archaeologist John Vincent Bellezza, the Himalayan Bronze Age lasted from about 2000 to 700 BCE, while the Iron Age lasted from 700 to 100 BCE.
Buddhism is founded on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who lived sometime between the sixth and fourteenth century BCE in northern India. Buddhists believe that sentient life is a cycle of suffering and rebirth, but that if one achieves a state of awakening or nirvana, it is possible to escape this cycle. Buddhists refer to the Buddha’s teachings as the Dharma. There are many different traditions or denominations of Buddhism, including Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. Scholars also discuss regional traditions, such as Indian Buddhism, Newar Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese Buddhism, and so on.
A petroglyph is an image cut into a stone. Such images are usually from the prehistoric period, and depict animals, hunters, and symbols related to early ritual.
Stupas are monuments that initially contained cremated remains of Buddha Shakyamuni or important monks, his disciples, and subsequently other material and symbolic relics associated with the Buddha’s body, teaching, and enlightened mind. As representations of the Buddha’s presence in the world, stupas with their contents—texts, relics, tsatsas—continue to be important objects of Buddhist worship in their diverse forms of domed structures, multistoried pagodas, and portable sculptures. The original form of stupas was an earthen dome-shaped mound containing the remains in reliquary vessels or urns deposited within the innermost core. The dome would often be successively enlarged and surrounded by a path for a walk around in a clockwise direction and veneration (circumambulation)
The Prototypic Hunter
In this rock art composition dating from the Iron Age (ca. 700–100 BCE), we see a hunting scene etched in stone featuring the ibex, a large and powerful wild goat species widely distributed in the highlands of west and Central Asia.This evocative scene is found in Ladakh, a crossroads region in the northwest corner of the Tibetan Plateau. Ladakh commands a highly strategic position in the Himalayas, joining Tibet with the Central Asian, Persian, and Indian realms. Archaeological and art historical evidence clearly shows that Ladakh has been a meeting point for peoples and a hub of trade and exchange for millennia.
Creating art in one form or another is a fundamental human impulse found in all societies. Naturally occurring stone surfaces offer one of the oldest and most universal picture-making mediums. This enduring means of expression rewards archaeologists with unparalleled insights into the cultural composition, social structure, and economic functions of ancient peoples worldwide. In Himalayan regions, including the Tibetan Plateau, artists began to leave their mark in stone during the (ca. 2000–700 BCE) by carving and painting cave walls, cliffs, and boulders, and they continued to do so until well into the second millennium CE.This unbroken tradition of rock art production records many routine activities and conceptions, ranging from hunting and martial scenes to ceremonial life and symbolic information. As Himalayan rock art developed over a period of more than two thousand years, it serves as an index of human progress beginning with archaic religious cults and culminating in the spread of the prevailing religions of the Tibetan world: and Bon. No other Himalayan art form has proven as durable or encompassing as that set down in stone.
In the composition, a solitary archer stands among four ibexes, each of which sports a large pair of horns arching over the spine. The human figure wielding a bow and arrow has a modified bitriangular torso, a popular style of anthropomorphic depiction in the rock art of Ladakh and Tibet to the east. These human and animal figures, competently executed by means of abrading the surface of the boulder, possess a bold, well-balanced appearance, endowing the composition with a fine pictorial effect. The hunter is shown taking aim at the ibex directly in front of him, clearly poised to slay it. This unambiguous signal of success has a metaphoric dimension, for shooting an arrow so close to a game animal is impractical. Rather, the perspective used in the work stresses the prowess of the hunter as a provider of sustenance, while at the same time articulating various social and religious calculations that accompanied this most basic of human activities. In fact, hunting scenes throughout the vast Asian hinterland often present hunters with bows and arrows in very close quarters to their prey (ibexes, deer, wild sheep, wild yaks, and so on), the literal documentation of the hunt assuming second place to a set of grandstanding social considerations and ritualized demonstrations.
Hunting Scenes More Broadly
The hunting of game animals is the single most common rock art theme in Ladakh. Ibex hunting scenes number in the thousands, carved in a variety of styles relying on a number of techniques for cutting and grinding the surface of boulders and outcrops. The pursuit of ibex is also prominent in the rock art of the adjoining Trans-Himalayan region of Spiti in India, as well as in many other Inner Asian territories, comprising Mongolia, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, and southeastern Kazakhstan. Farther west, ibex hunting is well known in the rock art of the Middle East. In lower-lying locales on the Tibetan Plateau, where agriculture came to be practiced, hunting was relegated to a subsistence venture of secondary importance for the bulk of the population by the Iron Age. Although the overall economic importance of hunting had diminished in Ladakh and other parts of the Tibetan Plateau by the time the composition of the lone hunter was fashioned, the sheer number of such scenes offers evidence that hunting pursuits retained their high prestige and cultural centrality. The critical social and religious values that hunting articulated in the Bronze and Iron Ages appear to have been derived from an even more remote era, when hunting and foraging served as the economic bedrock for inhabitants of the Tibetan Plateau.
Fig. 2
Map showing the range of hunting-themed rock art across Himalayan and Inner Asian regions
Other Rock Art at Alchi
Most of the rock art found in Alchi was made on boulders scattered along a shelf rising above the south bank of the Indus River, approximately one and a quarter miles (two kilometers) northwest of the village of Alchi and its renowned Buddhist temple complex. Carvers favored boulders covered in a shiny dark purplish patina for embellishment. In addition to ibex hunting scenes, at the site display ibexes engraved together with spotted carnivores resembling snow leopards, facsimiles of stepped architectural structures, including elaborate stupa (a Buddhist religious monument), a menagerie of animals, groups of , and combat or martial contests. Rock art with the same types of subjects and compositions rendered in analogous styles can be seen all along a sixty-two-mile (a hundred-kilometer) stretch of the Indus River extending from Alchi to Dah. Some of the boulders with rock art in Alchi and nearby sites contain Tibetan inscriptions composed during the Tibetan Imperial period (ca. 600–850 CE). Inscriptions and rock art in Ladakh made as late as the fourteenth century CE signal the death throes of the ancient tradition of rock carving (although rocks for religious and more informal reasons has continued in the region to the present day). A long line of earthen stupas and a ruined fortress located on the same shelf demonstrate the enduring attraction of the Alchi rock art site. Old gold mines in the vicinity underline the economic significance of the area.
Fig. 3
The stretch of the Indus River between Dah and Alchi where rock art can be found
A Conveyor of Interregional Exchange
Prowling striped carnivores (probably tigers) comprise another category of iconic rock art at Alchi. Of special note are three striped carnivores found on a single boulder, which has become unmoored and is now precariously perched above the Indus River. The complete petroglyph of one of these tigrine animals covered in chevronlike stripes (seen with part of another striped carnivore and other petroglyphs) (fig. 4) undeniably makes a strong impression with its pointed ears, gaping jaws, large round eye, flexed legs, and tail curling over the back. The form and design of the carnivore are emblematic of the “Eurasian animal style,” which features peculiar modes of zoomorphic portrayal in various metals, stone, and textiles diffused across much of the continent in the Iron Age.
The distinctive Eurasian animal style is well represented in the rock art of the Tibetan Plateau and other parts of , which typically boasts graceful and sinuous wild sheep, deer, and wild yaks with fancy horns standing on the tips of their hooves. Both wild herbivores and carnivores typically bear volutes or scrolls as body decoration (in the petroglyph of the striped carnivore, these curvilinear motifs are replaced by interconnected dots). The styles of tigrine creatures vary from region to region, as individual cultures selectively adopted elements of the Eurasian animal style to conform to their own purposes and inclinations. However, this body of rock art also has much in common. A shared legacy in form, presentation, and execution followed from far-reaching artistic, intellectual, and technological exchanges among diverse peoples. Participant cultures on the Tibetan Plateau and those in northwest China, northern Pakistan, Mongolia, southern Siberia, and southeastern Central Asia drew from a wellspring of allied ideas and sensibilities, contributing to the formation of a transcultural sphere in Iron Age Inner Asia. This emergent order anticipated by a millennium the cosmopolitan era that arose along the Silk Road in the first millennium of the Common Era (partially facilitated by the spread of Buddhism).
On the Tibetan Plateau figurative art showcasing humans, animals, architectural structures, implements, and other objects is richly supplemented by subjects having symbolic value. An array of rock paintings or pictographs consists of special characters that probably represented far more than their outward appearance alone suggests (fig. 5). To this day, the same symbols are used in the Bon and Buddhist religions to signify a wide range of ritual processes, philosophical teachings, and mystic notions. Even though we cannot know precisely what the long-lost artist working at Chukargyam was attempting to communicate with his intriguing set of pictographs, archaic mytho-ritual texts written in Tibetan between the eighth and eleventh centuries CE furnish clues regarding their potential meaning. For instance, we know that the conjoined sun and moon epitomized major priestly lineages and that the swastika was synonymous with the sun, while the tree was a major cosmological motif. Analogous sets of symbols are found in the rock art of Ladakh and Spiti, which indicates that these adjoining regions of the Tibetan Plateau were closely connected religiously to western Tibet well before the rise of Bon and Buddhism and widespread literacy in the eighth century CE.
In brief, rock art is one of the most potent tools available to us for understanding the way of life of early peoples residing in the loftiest lands on earth. Moreover, Tibetan and Himalayan rock art confirms that its ancient makers did not live an isolated existence but for millennia strove to relate to other peoples of Eurasia.
Footnotes
1I want to heartily thank Quentin Devers and Viraf Mehta for detailed information and photograhs of the Alchi rock art site prior to my own visit there in August 2021.
2
Rock carvings are commonly known as petroglyphs and rock paintings as pictographs. For a discussion of these techniques and output in western Tibet, see John V. Bellezza, Antiquities of Upper Tibet: Pre-Buddhist Archaeological Sites on the High Plateau; Findings of the Upper Tibet Circumnavigation Expedition, 2000 (Delhi: Adroit, 2002); John V. Bellezza, Zhang Zhung: Foundations of Civilization in Tibet. A Historical and Ethnoarchaeological Study of the Monuments, Rock Art, Texts and Oral Tradition of the Ancient Tibetan Upland, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse Denkschriften 368 (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008).
3
On ibexes in the rock art of Ladakh, see Laurianne Bruneau, “Le Ladakh (Jammu & Cachemire, Indie) de l’âge du Bronze à l’introduction du Bouddhisme: une étude de l’art rupestre” (PhD diss., Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, 2010); Henri-Paul Francfort, Daniel Klodzinski, and Georges Mascle, “Archaic Petroglyphs of Ladakh and Zanskar,” in Rock Art in the Old World: Papers Presented in Symposium A of the AURA Congress, Darwin Australia, 1988, ed. Michel Lorblanchet (Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, 1992), 147–92. On other rock art featuring the hunt, John V. Bellezza, “Gods, Hunting and Society: Animals in the Ancient Cave Paintings of Celestial Lake in Northern Tibet,” East and West 52, no. 1/4 (2002): 347–96.
4
Questions concerning the prehistoric cultural composition of Ladakh and western Tibet are addressed in John V. Bellezza, “Discerning Bon and Zhang Zhung on the Western Tibetan Plateau: Designing an Archaeological Nomenclature for Upper Tibet, Ladakh and Spiti Based on a Study of Cognate Rock Art,” in Ancient Civilization of Tibetan Plateau: Proceedings of the First Beijing International Conference on Shang Shung Cultural Studies, Edited by Tsering Thar Tongkor and Tsering Dawa Sharshon, ed. Tsering Thar Tongkor and Tsering Dawa Sharson (Xining: Qinghai Ethnic Publishing House, 2018), 49–112; John V. Bellezza, Besting the Best: Warriors and War in the Religious and Cultural Traditions of Tibet; A Historical Ethnographic and Archaeological Study on the Nature of Martial Activities over the Last Three Millennia (Lumbini: Lumbini International Research Institute, 2020); Laurianne Bruneau and John V. Bellezza, “The Rock Art of Upper Tibet and Ladakh: Inner Asian Cultural Adaptation, Regional Differentiation and the ‘Western Tibetan Plateau Style,’” Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines 28, no. December (2013): 5–161.
5
According to Laurianne Bruneau, the Alchi site consists of 24 anthropomorphic figures, 91 zoomorphic figures, and 328 stepped structures, as well as 131 rock inscriptions, “Le Ladakh (Jammu & Cachemire, Indie) de l’âge du Bronze à l’introduction du Bouddhisme: une étude de l’art rupestre” (PhD diss., Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, 2010).
6
For surveys of Tibetan rock inscriptions in Ladakh, see Philip Denwood, “Temple and Rock Inscriptions at Alchi,” in The Cultural Heritage of Ladakh, Volume Two: Zangskar and the Cave Temples of Ladakh, ed. David L. Snellgrove and Tadeusz Skorupski (New Delhi: Vikas, 1980), 117–63; Giacomella Orofino, “A Note on Some Tibetan Petroglyphs of the Ladakh Area,” East and West 40, no. 1/4 (1990): 173–200; Tsuguhito Takeuchi, “Old Tibetan Rock Inscriptions near Alchi,” in Historical Developments in Tibetan Languages: Proceedings of the Workshop B of the 17th Himalayan Languages Symposium (Kobe, 6th–9th September 2011), ed. Tsuguhito Takeuchi and Norihiko Hayashi (Kobe: Kobe City University of Foreign Studies, 2012), 29–70.
7
For a detailed study of Tibetan rock art and objects in the Eurasian style, see John V. Bellezza, Tibetan Silver, Gold and Bronze Objects and the Aesthetics of Animals in the Era before Empire: Cross-Cultural Reverberations on the Tibetan Plateau and Soundings from Other Parts of Eurasia, British Archaeological Reports International Series 2984 (Oxford: BAR, 2020).
8
On symbols in the rock art of Ladakh and adjoining regions of Tibet, see John V. Bellezza, “The Swastika, Stepped Shrine, Priest, Horned Eagle, and Wild Yak Rider: Prominent Antecedents of Bon Figurative and Symbolic Traditions in the Rock Art of Upper Tibet,” Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines 42, no. October (2017): 5–38; John V. Bellezza, “Bon Rock Paintings at GNam Mtsho: Glimpses of the Ancient Religion of Northern Tibet,” Rock Art Research 17, no. 1 (2000): 35–55.
Further Reading
Bellezza, John V. 2020b. Drawn and Written in Stone: An Inventory of Stepped Structures and Early Rock Inscriptions in Upper Tibet (ca. 100 BCE to 1400 CE). British Archaeological Reports International Series 2995. Oxford: BAR.
Linrothe, Rob. 2016. Seeing into Stone: Pre-Buddhist Petroglyphs and Zangskar’s Early Inhabitants. Berlin: Studio Orientalia.
Suolang Wangdui (Bsod nams dbang ’dus). 1994. Art of Tibetan Rock Paintings. Introduction by Li Yongxian and Huo Wei. Chengdu: Sichuan People’s Publishing House.
Bon is an indigenous religion of Tibet. Originally, Bon were a group of non-Buddhist ritual specialists in the court of the Tibetan emperors. From the eleventh century onward, an organized religion called Yungdrung Bon, or “Eternal Bon,” took shape. Yungdrung Bon developed in dialogue with Buddhism, incorporating deities called buddhas, scriptures modeled on the Buddhist canon, monks, and the establishment of monasteries. Followers of Yungdrung Bon trace their own origins to a founder called Tonpa Shenrab, who arrived from the semi-mythical land of Zhangzhung in western Tibet. The word “Bon” can also refer to the many non-organized indigenous religious practices, including the worship of mountain deities and making namkha. A follower of Bon is called a Bonpo.
Historians roughly divide human prehistory into three ages according to individual civilizations’ use of technology: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. According to archaeologist John Vincent Bellezza, the Himalayan Bronze Age lasted from about 2000 to 700 BCE, while the Iron Age lasted from 700 to 100 BCE.
Buddhism is founded on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who lived sometime between the sixth and fourteenth century BCE in northern India. Buddhists believe that sentient life is a cycle of suffering and rebirth, but that if one achieves a state of awakening or nirvana, it is possible to escape this cycle. Buddhists refer to the Buddha’s teachings as the Dharma. There are many different traditions or denominations of Buddhism, including Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. Scholars also discuss regional traditions, such as Indian Buddhism, Newar Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese Buddhism, and so on.
A petroglyph is an image cut into a stone. Such images are usually from the prehistoric period, and depict animals, hunters, and symbols related to early ritual.
Stupas are monuments that initially contained cremated remains of Buddha Shakyamuni or important monks, his disciples, and subsequently other material and symbolic relics associated with the Buddha’s body, teaching, and enlightened mind. As representations of the Buddha’s presence in the world, stupas with their contents—texts, relics, tsatsas—continue to be important objects of Buddhist worship in their diverse forms of domed structures, multistoried pagodas, and portable sculptures. The original form of stupas was an earthen dome-shaped mound containing the remains in reliquary vessels or urns deposited within the innermost core. The dome would often be successively enlarged and surrounded by a path for a walk around in a clockwise direction and veneration (circumambulation)
Stay connected. Sign up for the Rubin Museum’s monthly newsletter to receive updates about upcoming exhibitions, programs, digital features, and more.
