Tibet Archaeology

and all things Tibetan

Category - Tibetan art history

November 2016

Welcome to another Flight of the Khyung! This month’s issue features a general interest article on the origins of Tibetan art, as seen through ancient rock carvings and paintings. It explores the relationship between rock art and the classical art …

November 2015

Welcome to another Flight of the Khyung as we continue our explorations on the western fringes of the Tibetan Plateau! This issue presents the last in a three-part article surveying the rock art of Spiti. There are many more intriguing …

October 2015

Welcome to another Flight of the Khyung as we once again explore the ancient rock art of Spiti! This issue contains the second of a three-part article. The first part of this article is featured in last month’s newsletter. Before …

September 2015

Flight of the Khyung surveys the ancient rock art of Spiti situated on the western rim of the Tibetan plateau! The last four newsletters have been devoted to the early cultural history and archaeology of Spiti and this one follows …

August 2015

Welcome to the Flight of the Khyung marking nine years of this newsletter’s publication! This 109th issue is focused on cultural interconnections between Spiti and Upper Tibet and Ladakh in antiquity. There is much beautiful and mysterious rock art to …

July 2015

Flight of the Khyung returns you to a wonderland perched on the western edge of the Tibetan Plateau! This month’s offering is exclusively devoted to the rock art of Spiti, the most graphic and extensive record of its ancient culture. …

January 2015

Flight of the Khyung wishes all users of this website a productive and salutary New Year! To ring in the new, this issue delights readers with two images of the ancient khyung or horned-eagle from uppermost Tibet. The second offering …

December 2014

Welcome aboard as Flight of the Khyung takes you to new heights in winter-solstice Tibet! This month the reader is treated to the special beauty of a rare assortment of Tibetan artifacts. The first article features an extraordinary golden burial …

November 2014

Welcome aboard another Flight of the Khyung! This month we continue our explorations of the Tibetan ‘animal style’, a group of artistic traditions vibrantly depicting animals using curves and circles. As explained in last month’s newsletter, the animal style pervaded much …

October 2014

Welcome to another Flight of the Khyung, a newsletter dedicated to the culture, art and archaeology of ancient Tibet! This special issue features the Eurasian ‘animal style’ rock art of Upper Tibet, adeptly executed carvings distinguished by their gracefulness and …

September 2014

Welcome to another Flight of the Khyung! The horned eagle flies swift and high, making more progress in the timely delivery of these monthly newsletters. The last issue featured a selection of remarkable anthropomorphic rock art and this month there …

August 2014

Welcome to the eighth anniversary issue of Flight of the Khyung! Thanks very much for your interest and patronage. It has taken quite a bit longer than usual for this month’s newsletter to appear, but the khyung is back on …

December 2013

This month Flight of the Khyung takes you to some of the most extraordinary prehistoric art in all of Tibet. Constituting a comprehensive tableau of life more than 1500 years old, these rock carvings have never been seen in such detail. The …

November 2013

Another Flight of the Khyung is ready for take off! As promised, this month’s issue features two ancient cave sanctuaries recently discovered on the Upper Tibet Rock Art Expedition III. There is also a special report about the spectacular golden …

September 2013

Get ready for take off with another Flight of the Khyung! This month we jet between Mongolia and the High Plateau to regale you with stories of the present day and inform readers about the distant past. There is also …

January 2013

Happy New Year to the fliers of the great khyung! May 2013 bring you all much joy and success. This month’s Flight of the Khyung highlights rock art discoveries made in the last weeks of 2012, in the eastern Changthang. …

November 2012

Please join the horned eagle of Tibet for more great exploration! This month’s Flight of the Khyung swoops down through the very layers of history as revealed by the pullulating rock art of Upper Tibet. Our journey promises a new …

February 2012

All aboard another Flight of the Khyung! Ancient art is our theme again this month, spurred on by the successes of recent expeditions. In the last two years, I have taken thousands of pictures of art from the cliffs and …

January 2012

Happy New Year! We shall usher in 2012 with one of the most important symbols of the Tibetan cultural world, the khyung or horned eagle. As you shall see, there is solid archaeological evidence supporting Bon textual accounts of the …

December 2011

The Flight of the Khyung begins anew as the end of the year approaches. As promised, this month’s issue is devoted to the intriguing rock art masks of Upper Tibet and to searching out their kith and kin across Inner …

August 2010

Fourth anniversary issue
Welcome to the 49th issue of Flight of the Khyung! Very glad you can see it. This month’s offering comes out later than usual due to fieldwork in Tibet. I have just completed the Upper Tibetan Rock …

October 2009

Soaring high on the wings of the khyung, the human mind has no bounds but space itself, that limitless void extending in every direction. In this month’s Flight of the Khyung, I begin with an essay on a subject dear …