Antiquities of Zhang Zhung- A Comprehensive Inventory of Pre-Buddhist Archaeological Monuments in the Tibetan Upland (Set of 2 Volumes)

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John Vincent Bellezza in archaeologist and cultural historian focused on the pre- Buddhist heritage. of Tibet and the Western Himalaya. He has lived in high Asia for three decades and is a Senior Research Fellow at the Tibet Center, University of Virginia Bellezza has published widely on archaic ritual traditions in Bon and Old Tibetan literature. Since 1992, he has comprehensively charted the monuments and rock art of the ancient Zhang Zhung and Sumpa proto-states, revealing the surprising level of cultural sophistication attained on the uppermost reaches of the Tibetan plateau more than 2000 years ago. Bellezza is the first non- Tibetan to have explored both the geographic and ritual sources of each of the four great rivers that emerge from the Mount Tise region. He has also visited nearly every main island and major headland in the great lakes region of the Changthang. Author of many scholarly articles as well, Bellezza's other books include Divine Dyads: Ancient Civilization in Tibet (1997: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives), Antiquities of Northern Tibet (2001: Adroit), Antiquities of Upper Tibet (2002: Adroit), Calling Down the Gods (2005: Brill). Zhang Zhung: Foundations of Civilization in Tibet (2008: Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften). Death and Beyond in Ancient Tibet (2013: Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften), and The Dawn of Tibet: The Ancient Civilization on the Roof of the World (2014: Rowman & Littlefield).

The upper portion of the Tibetan Plateau, a land of large lakes, lofty peaks, interminable plains, and deep gorges, stretches north and west of Lhasa for 1500 km. Bound by high mountain ranges on all sides and averaging 4600 m above sea level, Upper Tibet gave rise to an extraordinary civilization in antiquity. Beginning about 3000 years ago, a chain of mountaintop citadels, temples, and intricate burial complexes appeared in this vast region of some 600,000 square kilometers. These monuments were part and parcel of a unique human legacy, which flourished until the Tibetan imperium and the annexation of Upper Tibet by the Spu rgyal emperors (bisan po) of Central Tibet. Gradually the unique beliefs, customs and traditions of archaic Upper Tibet yielded to a pan-Tibetan cultural entity that arose in conjunction with Vajrayana Buddhist teachings.

A millennium ago, Buddhist domination of Tibet spawned a new civilization, one in which the celebrated Lamaist religions of Bon and Buddhism came to hold sway. The inexorable march of time and the ascent of the new religious order slowly but surely clouded the memory of the earlier cultural heritage. As a result, many of the ancient achievements of the Upper Tibetan people were forgotten. Much of what remains are preserved in the impressive monumental traces of the region. Antiquities of Zhang Zhung attempts to reclaim these past glories by systematically describing the visible physical remains left by the ancient inhabitants of Upper Tibet.

The residential and ceremonial monuments of Upper Tibet, established by what can be termed the "archaic cultures of the region (Zhang zhung and Sum pa of the literary records), contrast with those built in the central and eastern portions of the Plateau in the same span of time. There are also very substantial differences between the archaeological makeup of the archaic cultural horizon (circa 1000 BCE to 1000 CE) and that of the Lamaist era (circa 1000 CE to 1950 CE) in Upper Tibet. The unique monumental assemblage of Upper Tibet delineates the bounds of a paleocultural complex squarely based in the uplands of the Plateau. The special physical hallmarks and highland homeland of this ancient culture set it apart from other Bodic cultures, which arose in the central and eastern parts of the Tibetan Plateau The paleocultural world of Upper Tibet is also readily distinguished from those civilizations that appeared in adjoining lands to the south, west and north. In the archaic cultural era, the Upper Tibetans constructed highly durable all-stone clite residences, temples and castles, developing stone working techniques particularly suited to their extremely harsh natural environment. They also designed and built elaborate burial complexes containing many types of ritual structures made entirely of stone. The use of stone corbelling for the construction of roofs and the erection of pillars in peculiar configurations for ceremonial purposes reached a very high level of proficiency in Upper Tibet. The eminently practical qualities of this architecture have helped to insure that the vestiges of a surprising number of monuments have endured to the present day.

**Contents and Sample Pages**