The recovering of the Qianfosi cliff sculptures in Tongnan County, Chongqing
Abstract
In 2011, Chongqing Municipal Institute of Cultural Heritage excavated the cliff-side sculptures of the Qianfosi (Thousand-Buddha Temple) in Tongnan County, Chongqing. The excavation uncovered 500sq m in total, from which 43 grottoes and niches, 283 statues and 27 textual inscriptions were recovered. Meanwhile, architectural remains like eaves or porches were also found on the cliffs, the date of which was around the Song to Ming Dynasties. The statues had rich motifs and were carved with exquisite craftsmanship, which provided important materials for the researches on the Buddhist cave temples in the Sichuan and Chongqing areas and the routes of the diffusion of the later Buddhism in the western Chongqing and eastern Sichuan.
Postscript
The original report published in Kaogu 考古 (Archaeology) 2013.12:36–57 with 12 illustrations and 12 plates is authored by Guilan Yu 于桂兰, Gang Fang 方刚, Qingli Liu 刘清莉 and Houxi Zou 邹后曦. This abridged version is prepared by Guilan Yu and Gang Fang and translated into English by Xiaolei Ding 丁晓雷.
© 2018 by Walter de Gruyter, Inc. · Boston · Berlin
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- New archaeological discoveries
- The Banlashan Cemetery of Hongshan Culture in Chaoyang City, Liaoning
- Surveys and excavations in 2014–2016 at Shijiahe Site in Tianmen City, Hubei
- The Imperial City Terrace Locality of the Shimao City Site in Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province
- The Jartai Pass Site in Nilka County, Xinjiang
- Reports
- The excavation of the Modaoshan Site of the Paleolithic Age in Yunan County, Guangdong
- The excavation of the Daxi Cultural remains at Dashuitian Site in Wushan County, Chongqing
- The excavation of the Wujiachang Cemetery in Fuquanshan Site, Shanghai in 2010
- The Shang burials at the Yangjiawan Locality of the Panlongcheng Site in Wuhan
- The excavation of burial M89 at Tiesan Road at the Yinxu Site in Anyang, Henan
- The excavation of the burial M8 at the Zhoujiazhai Cemetery in Suizhou, Hubei
- The recovering of the Qianfosi cliff sculptures in Tongnan County, Chongqing
- Research
- On the subsistence types of the Xiantouling Culture
- On the origin and formation of the early Qin Culture
- On the provenance study method of the archaeological relics based on styles and distributions
- Maitreya statues in the Southern Dynasties and the incarnation of Fu Dashi as Maitreya
- A preliminary research on the burials of the Mongol Khanate period and Yuan Dynasty in northern area
- The emergence and early utilization of domestic sheep in Xinjiang
- The development and formation of soldering technique on the bronze ritual vessel casting of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties
- Brief report on the laboratory archaeology of the tomb M1 at Dahekou
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- New archaeological discoveries
- The Banlashan Cemetery of Hongshan Culture in Chaoyang City, Liaoning
- Surveys and excavations in 2014–2016 at Shijiahe Site in Tianmen City, Hubei
- The Imperial City Terrace Locality of the Shimao City Site in Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province
- The Jartai Pass Site in Nilka County, Xinjiang
- Reports
- The excavation of the Modaoshan Site of the Paleolithic Age in Yunan County, Guangdong
- The excavation of the Daxi Cultural remains at Dashuitian Site in Wushan County, Chongqing
- The excavation of the Wujiachang Cemetery in Fuquanshan Site, Shanghai in 2010
- The Shang burials at the Yangjiawan Locality of the Panlongcheng Site in Wuhan
- The excavation of burial M89 at Tiesan Road at the Yinxu Site in Anyang, Henan
- The excavation of the burial M8 at the Zhoujiazhai Cemetery in Suizhou, Hubei
- The recovering of the Qianfosi cliff sculptures in Tongnan County, Chongqing
- Research
- On the subsistence types of the Xiantouling Culture
- On the origin and formation of the early Qin Culture
- On the provenance study method of the archaeological relics based on styles and distributions
- Maitreya statues in the Southern Dynasties and the incarnation of Fu Dashi as Maitreya
- A preliminary research on the burials of the Mongol Khanate period and Yuan Dynasty in northern area
- The emergence and early utilization of domestic sheep in Xinjiang
- The development and formation of soldering technique on the bronze ritual vessel casting of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties
- Brief report on the laboratory archaeology of the tomb M1 at Dahekou
