China's genocide of Muslim Uyghurs

Mountain discovery on Silk Road (video)

Uncovering a lost mountain metropolis

(nature video) Oct. 23, 2024: An isolated plateau in the highlands of southeastern Uzbekistan in Central Asia looks like an expanse of rolling hills. But look closer and a shard of pottery or the stony remnant of an ancient wall might hint at an archeological secret hidden for hundreds of years. Now a team of archeologists have used drone-mounted LiDAR to virtually peel back the layers of sediment and vegetation. Revealing two ancient cities, much larger than previously imagined, built 2,000 meters above sea level. The finding of these urban centers, called Tashbulak and Tugunbulak, at such high altitudes, may mean that highland areas may have played a more important role in medieval trade than previously thought.

• Read the paper: nature.com/articles/s4158...
• Buddhism in Uzbekistan, Central Asia
• Buddhism in Central Asia

This is a big deal with amazing art found (© Marc Dozier/Getty Images/Popular Mechanics).

Asia (the East) connected with the Roman Empire (the West) for centuries through the Silk Road

A mountaintop discovery is changing everything we knew about the Silk Road

• A new LiDAR survey of previously discovered Silk Road sites reveals a more sprawling urban history than first imagined.
• An aerial survey of the Tashbulak and Tugunbulak sites in Uzbekistan, Central Adia, uncovered more than 300 medieval archeological features, suggesting a robust urban community.
• The Silk Road or Route — which existed from 114 B.C. to 1450 A.D. — was a vital and expansive trade route that connected the Eastern and Western worlds.

A new survey of two archeological sites along the Silk Road has unveiled a stunning new discovery that rewrites our understanding of the famed Eurasian (Europe-Asia) trade route that spanned continents and centuries.

Monk meditates on Silk Road (en.unesco.org)

As reported in Newsweek, a new aerial survey of Tashbulak and Tugunbulak — two archeological sites roughly three miles apart in the Uzbekistan mountains — utilized LiDAR (a remote sensing technology that uses laser pulses to penetrate obstacles and create 3D images of a landscape) to reveal more than 300 medieval archeological features.

• [Buddhism in Central Asia was prevalent along the Silk Road. Its history there is closely related to the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism during the first millennium of the common era. It has been argued that the spread of Indian culture and religions, especially Buddhism, as far as Sogdia, corresponded to the rule of the Kidarites over the regions from Sogdia to Gandhara [4]. Islam invaded and displaced Buddhism. Uzbekistan [5] and Kazakhstan [6] have the most Buddhists, largely practiced by their Koryo-saram minority, although the former has the lowest percentage of Buddhists. Due to historical Tibetan, Mongol, and Manchurian influence, Kyrgyzstan [7] has the highest percentage of Buddhists in Central Asia. More]

Empires of the Silk Road (C. I. Beckwith)

The two sites, which were discovered in 2011 and 2015, are located 6,562 to 7,218 feet above sea level. At that elevation, the land was unlikely to have supported large-scale urban development at the time, given the difficulties posed to construction and agriculture.

But this new survey — the results of which were published in Nature — indicates that that’s exactly what occurred at Tashbulak and Tugunbulak.

“The LiDAR results indicate that the scale of urbanization in this area was much more expansive than previously known,” Brown University researcher Zachary Silvia told Newsweek.

Silvia, while not involved directly in the study, has published a News & Views article for Nature about the results and singled out the significance of this revelation

 “This is the first — and probably only — ancient or medieval city located at this elevation in Central Asia, which forces us to reconsider what we know about urbanization in the area.”

Among the structures discovered by the study’s LiDAR flights were “watchtowers connected with walls along a ridgeline, evidence of terracing, and a central fortress surrounded by walls made of stone and mud brick.”

The Silk Road (Valerie Hansen)

But while this survey revealed what structures were once present at Tashbulak and Tugunbulak, there are still more questions to be answered.

“Typically, remote sensing techniques are one tool within the broader tool kit of the archaeologist,” Silvia noted to Newsweek. “The next step for the team would be to confirm their findings through geophysics — techniques that ‘see’ below the surface — and targeted excavations that can confirm whether or not this is indeed such an extensive settlement. I am optimistic that this is precisely what the team will find in the coming years.” Source

• Valeriana everything we know about Mexico's lost city
• VIDEO: 100-million-year-old discovery: Scientists uncover ancient seafloor hidden deep beneath earth (MSN) A groundbreaking discovery has revealed remnants of an ancient seafloor beneath the Pacific Ocean, potentially rewriting Earth's geological history! Scientists believe this is just the beginning of uncovering hidden structures in Earth's depths, offering new insights into our planet’s complex past. What other secrets lie beneath? Location: London WooGlobe Ref: WGA177390.
• VIDEO: Top 10 mysterious moving statues that scientists can't explain
• Are the ancient precision-cut granite Barabar caves in India older than we think?
• Scientists may have finally found the origin of one of history's most important inventions
• Scientists decipher 3,000-year-old map to find location of Noah's Ark
• Michael Natale, Popular Mechanics via MSN, Oct. 29, 2024; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Scythian-Saka-Siberian Buddhist monuments

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Stupas (Buddhist burial mounds) are ancient Central Asian-Ukrainian kurgans (Trizna 1899 )

Bezeklik: White Sogdian merchants giving to the Buddha (Buddhism in Central Asia/Wiki)

The Monks of the Mines of ancient Afghanistan, Gandhara, Kapilavastu, Central Asia (NatGeo)

The Indo-Sakas are Scythians.

The monuments of these cultures coincide with Scythian-Saka-Siberian [Shakya Land or ancient Buddhist Kapilavastu] monuments. Scythian, Indo-Saka, and Siberian monuments have common features and sometimes common genetic roots [10].

Also associated with these spectacular burial mounds (Buddhist stupas or tepes) are the Pazyryk, an ancient people who lived in the Altai Mountains lying in Siberian Russia on the Ukok Plateau, near the borders with China, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia [11].

The Buddha of Gandhara/Afghanistan (Indo-Saka)

The archeological site on the Ukok Plateau associated with the Pazyryk culture is included in the Golden Mountains of Altai UNESCO World Heritage Site [12].

Scythian-Saka-Siberian classification includes monuments from the 8th to the 3rd century BC. This period is called the Early or Ancient Nomads epoch.

"Hunnic" monuments date from the 3rd century BC to the 6th century AD, and Turkic ones from the 6th century AD to the 13th century AD, leading up to the Mongolian epoch. More

• What is a Buddhist stupa or pagoda? It is a burial mound covering a sacred reliquary marking out nobles (Aryan = "Enlightened" beings) or chakravartin rulers or other important figures. Originally, they had statues on top of those buried beneath the kurgan, tumulus, barrow, or cairn, a pile of stones forming the burial mound, as was tradition throughout Central Asia, up into Ukraine, North Asia, West Asia, and many Caucasian lands.
• Kyrgyzstan | Silk Roads Program (unesco.org)
• Buddhism in Central Asia (Wik
• Sogdia (Sogdiana) Empire

Tash Rabat Temple, Kyrgyzstan (video)

Central-Asia.Guide; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

This Vajrayana Buddhist statue of Maitreya Buddha may have been the sort used at Tash Rabat

This is what the compound looks like, a Monks of the Mines (NatGeo) walled stupa vihara.

Tash Rabat is a Buddhsit caravanserai determined to be of Buddhist (not Nestorian) origin.

This is the interior of the stupa or burial mound reliquary, hollowed out for use as a temple.

Buddhism left stupas all over Asia, a long tradition coming down from Ukraine/North Asia that the Buddha (or past buddhas) continued and brought down to the Middle Country (Majjhimadesa), which seems to have been Central Asia, and into India, including his birthplace of Gandhara/Afghanistan.

Stupa at Bimaran, where reliquary was excavated. Drawing by Charles Masson (Wiki)

• What is a caravansarai?
• Austere Buddhist monastery (vihara) in Central Asia becomes a travelers' inn?
• Kyrgyzstan destinations - Best Kyrgyz sights and travel destinations (central-asia.guide)
• Visionary maverick Indian historian Dr. Ranajit Pal, Ph.D. led the way to our understanding the real origins of the historical Scythian Buddha Shakyamuni (Siddhartha Gautama), but many other sources indicate that the Sakas are the Shakyians, and they are the Indo-Scythians as th world will one day see and general scholarship will teach.

Formerly Buddhist Central Asia: Water Wars

Central Asia is on the verge of a water war

(CaspianReport) Summer 2021: More than 70 border conflicts took place between 2011 and 2015 in #Fergana Valley, where #Uzbekistan, #Kyrgyzstan, and #Tajikistan converge.

(KhAnubis) Central Asia Explained (5/17/20) Central Asia is a fascinating region

that doesn't get as much attention as most other regions of Asia. Here's an intro.

• Spiritual wonders from Central Asia (ranajitpal.com)

CaspianReport ✔ YouTube ► ✔ Patreon.com/CaspianReport ✔ PayPal ► paypal.me/caspianreport ✔ Merch teespring.com/stores/caspianreport.com Crypto endorsement ✔ Bitcoin ► 1MwRNXWWqzbmsHova7FMW11zPftVZVUfbU ✔ Ether ► 0xfE4c310ccb6f52f9D220F25Ce76Dec0493dF9aA0 ✔ Bitcoin Cash ► 1BKLti4Wq4EK9fsBnYWC91caK7NZfUhNw9 ► twitter.com/CaspianReport ✔ ► facebook.com/CaspianReport ✔ Watch CaspianReport in other languages ✔ Spanish ► Russian

Traveling the Silk Road: Uzbekistan (video)

On the Silk Road to Uzbekistan, passing through Buddhist Bamiyan, Afghanistan by camel

The people, history, and culture of Uzbekistan

What animal could survive the Silk Road?

(Traveling the Silk Road, DW Documentary) With its magical buildings, fascinating landscapes, and friendly people, Uzbekistan has a lot to offer. It is a country caught between rich traditions and modernity.

Wild equestrian games, fairytale palaces, and hospitable people proud of their magnificent culture --all of this is encountered by those traveling through Uzbekistan along the Silk Road.

The Central Asian country borders Kazakhstan to the north and Afghanistan to the south. The journey begins in Samarkand, one of Central Asia’s oldest cities.

For centuries cities like Samarkand, Bukhara (Boukhara, Buddha?), and Khiva provided the necessary infrastructure for caravans on the Silk Road, allowing merchants to trade goods and providing accommodation for them and their animals.

Many buildings survive to underline the splendor and wealth that trade once generated. Samarkand is  one of the world’s oldest cities, with three outstanding Koran schools, known as madrasas, on Registan Square. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• The Buddha's family, the Shakyas/Scythians, were settled nomads, Sakas (Saccans), an equestrian peoples, extended family tribes. And young Prince Siddhartha Gautama (Shakya clan) had a prized white pony named Kanthaka, and was skilled in horse riding, archery, and sports. They were a "proud" people, the Buddha later explained, war-like and guarding their territory, accruing their riches due to the Silk Road in a far off hinterland that would seem to be in the middle of nowhere (Afghanistan according to Dr. Ranajit Pal).

(FTD Facts) 10 Surprising facts about Uzbekistan

In the Boysun Region in the Hissar Mountains the ancient, and none-too-gentle riding game known as kopkari is held at Nowruz, the traditional New Year festival. More than 100 horsemen try to pick up the body of a dead goat (as is played in Afghanistan, an apparent forebear of British and American pigskin games like rugby, soccer, and football) from the ground and to escape with this from all the others.

In 1380 the Uzbek folk hero Amir Timur (Tamerlane) had the gigantic Ak Sarav, "White Palace," built in Shahrisabz, the town of his birth. It had a thousand rooms adorned with gemstones.

_______

• The people, history and culture of Uzbekistan Traveling the Silk Road ¦ DW Documentary

Exciting, powerful, and informative – DW Documentary is always close to current affairs and international events. Our eclectic mix of award-winning films and reports take you straight to the heart of the story. Dive into different cultures, journey across distant lands, and discover the inner workings of modern-day life.

• DW Documentary (German PBS); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly