Traces in the Desert
Journeys of Discovery Across Central Asia
1st Edition
Published on 30. June 2008
240 pages
978-0-85771-832-7 (ISBN)
Description
For five millennia, the peoples and cultures of East and West have met and mingled in Central Asia. For explorers and travellers it is a promised land, a region of white spaces on the map, forgotten cities and archaeological treasures. Christoph Baumer has spent a lifetime travelling through the countries of Central Asia, making extraordinary discoveries along the way. "Traces in the Desert" follows in his intrepid footsteps as he finds evidence of Indo-Europeans in the steppes of Western Mongolia, discovers lost oasis cities in the Taklamakan and unearths art treasures in Tibet. He embarks on a quest to find Genghis Khan's long-lost tomb and has numerous, occasionally hair-raising, encounters with shamans, Iranian politicians and armed Tibetan bandits. Enlightening and full of adventure, "Traces in the Desert" uniquely illuminates the hidden parts of Central Asia that have not just disappeared beneath the shifting sands, but also from the horizon of our memory.
More details
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
64 colour on 2 x 16pp plate sections and 5 maps
ISBN-13
978-0-85771-832-7 (9780857718327)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
06/2008
I.B. Tauris
€44.75
Article exhausted; check different version
Persons
Dr Christoph Baumer is a leading explorer of Central Asia and Tibet. His many expeditions in these regions have yielded important discoveries in archaeology and art history. As the leader of four international expeditions into the Taklamakan desert he rediscovered the lost city of Dandan Oilik and found unknown Buddhist murals revealing ancient inscriptions. Not since Aurel Stein and Sven Hedin has a foreigner explored this region as extensively. A Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Royal Geographical Society and a member of the Explorer's Club, Baumer is internationally recognised through his books, articles and appearances in documentary films and on radio. He is the author of many books, including 'Southern Silk Road', 'Eastern Tibet' and 'Church of the East' - a runner up BRISMES winner (also I.B.Tauris).
Content
- Cover
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Maps
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword by John Hare
- Introduction
- Part I: In Search of the Nestorians
- Christian Crosses in the Himalayas
- The Churches and Monasteries of Tur Abdin
- Christians in Iran
- Merv, City of Infidels
- The Mistery of Khukh Burd Süme
- Part II: The Nomadic Land
- Searching for Genghis Khan's Tomb
- Among the Eagle Hunters
- Art in Stone and Men of Stone
- A Shaman from Tuva
- Genghis Khan's Capital
- Part III: Discovering the Treasures of Tibet
- Land of Snows
- Yaks as Snowploughs
- Milarepa's Tower
- The Unknown Bönpos
- Between Heaven and Earth
- Part IV: Secrets of the Taklamakan Desert
- A Second Mecca
- The Guardian of Niya
- The Wandering Lake
- Skeletons in the Sand
- Discoveries in Dandan Oilik
- Black Hurricane
- A Blank Space on the Map
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
