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- Title
History, Timelessness and the Monumental: the Oboos of the Mergen Environs, Inner Mongolia.
- Authors
Christopher Evans; Caroline Humphrey
- Abstract
Concerned with the meaning, variability and material transformation of the sacred oboo cairns of Inner Asia, this study focuses upon four of these stone settings within the environs of Mergen Monastery. Two have been rebuilt since their destruction during the Cultural Revolution, and one markedly registers its recent history. The layout of these complex monuments (involving diverse ancillary elements) reflects the processes of Buddhicization of the landscape. Comparison between their form and Buddhist texts outlining oboo construction allows appraisal of their prescription and actuality. These monuments raise issues relevant beyond their immediate cultural and geographical context, as they express an interplay between history and timelessness; the latter effectively amounting to a reincarnation of material culture (i.e. denial of change). Finally, the deployment of oboos relates to broader concepts of landscape orientation; their relationship with Mongolian directional systems is explored.
- Subjects
CAIRNS; LANDSCAPES; MONASTERIES; HISTORIC sites; RELIGIOUS facilities
- Publication
Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2003, Vol 13, Issue 2, p195
- ISSN
0959-7743
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1017/S095977430300012X