Undergraduate Course: Art and Archaeology of the Silk Road, 500-1000 AD (HIAR10190)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course introduces the diverse cultures and inter-cultural exchanges along the ancient Silk Road, incorporating visual, archaeological, and textual materials. It explores the interactions of various cultures and how they shaped each other, as well as how they together gave rise to pre-modern global history. |
| Course description |
The notion of the Silk Road as a long, undulating conduit was a 19th-century invention, reified by modern surveying and cartography. The historical Silk Road, however, was not one but many routes. It was fragmented things and ideas might come from distant lands, but not always the people who carried them; instead, the Silk Road exchange was mostly relayed by people, who only covered a known route of relatively short distance and to whom the idea of a cross-continental 'Silk Road' would have been inconceivable.
With such particular socio-political contexts in mind, this course invites the students to reconstruct the cross-cultural exchanges along the Silk Road. Together we look at and compare the vast and diverse archaeological, visual, and textual (transmitted and excavated) material, from Japan to Byzantium. What is more, students are encouraged to think about not just the transmission of objects, motifs, techniques, and artistic styles, but how their meanings are rejected, appropriated, transformed, and reinvented, as they are removed to a new context. The methodological challenge is twofold: the materials are alien to us, coming from a different time and space; at the same time, they would have appeared 'exotic' to their ancient audiences. This course, therefore, aims to cultivate critical awareness of how our presumptions of contemporary cross-cultural interactions might shape our understanding of interactions in the past; and that, in return, might challenge how we look at other cultures at present.
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Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a solid foundation knowledge of the diverse visual and material cultures along the Silk Road
- Employ advanced skills of visual analysis with a strong ability to make visual comparisons between material from disparate cultures
- Interpret Silk Road interactions using a combination of visual, material, and textual evidence
- Show a developed and critical awareness of the way Silk Road exchanges have been treated over time in history, art history, and archaeology
- Identify, conceptualise and express with confidence novel problems raised by the material
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Reading List
Asimov, M and Bosworth, C. (ed.) (1998), History of Civilizations of Central Asia, vols. III, IV (Paris).
Beckwith, C. (2009), Empires of the Silk road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the present (Princeton & Oxford).
Hansen, V. (2012), The Silk Road: A New History (Oxford).
Rawson, J. (1984), Chinese Ornament: The Lotus and the Dragon (London).
Skaff, J. (2012), Sui-Tang China and Its Turko-Mongol Neighbors: Culture, Power, and Connection, 580-800 (New York).
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Visual and critical analysis; Clear thinking and the development of an argument; Independent research; Presentation and communication skills; Organisation and planning. |
| Keywords | Medieval,Silk Road,Eurasian Steppes,Central Asia,China,Tibet,Sogdians,Cross-Cultural,Trade,Buddhism |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jiemin Fang
Tel: (0131 6)51 800
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr Nathan Ross-Hammond
Tel: (0131 6)51 5880
Email: |
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