Search Results (22)

This study examines the origins and symbolic meanings of the iconography of Vaiśravaṇa, which gained prominence in East Asia during the 200 years after the 8th century, through the lens of royal imagery as both a devotee and protector. As Vaiśravaṇa’s iconography spread along the Silk Road, it integrated diverse cultural traditions from the ancient Near East and the Indo-Iranian world, with Gandhāra and Khotan as central hubs. The iconography evolved into a distinctive form, featuring a cylindrical crown adorned with bird motifs, shoulder flames, a cross belt, a Stūpa, a spear, and celestial maidens. Previous studies often limited its origin to either Gandhāra or Khotan; however, this research highlights contributions from both regions, emphasizing their roles in shaping iconography. By focusing on Gandhāra and the Kushan Empire, this study explores how these elements reflect the diversity of regional cultures, political ideals, and religious values. It contextualizes these developments within historical and cultural exchanges between regions, offering a broader understanding of Vaiśravaṇa’s formation. The findings reveal that Vaiśravaṇa’s iconography reflects cultural exchange and symbolizes the sacred earthly ruler. This perspective highlights how regional diversity and intercultural interactions shaped its development, enriching the study of Buddhist iconography. Full article

Building on the observation of gaps in current research, this study provides a comprehensive analysis of the spatial patterns of heritage sites along the Silk Road, focusing on how historical trade routes shaped what are now recognized as heritage sites. Using data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List, the research examines heritage sites across Eurasia and North Africa, with a specific emphasis on the Silk Road corridors. This study employs a spatiotemporal approach, categorizing sites into northern overland routes and southern maritime routes to highlight regional variations in network development. The key findings of this study reveal the significant influence of historical trade routes on the development of settlements, cities, and cultural landmarks along the Silk Road. These findings identify clear trends in the Silk Road network’s evolution over time, illustrating a shift in its spatial focus across different historical periods. Initially, the network was centered in the eastern Mediterranean during the Classical Period. In the medieval period, this focus expanded to include a dual core area in both the eastern Mediterranean and Central Asia. By the late Medieval period, the network had shifted again, with a new core emerging in Europe. This chronological and spatial analysis allows for a detailed examination of the Silk Road network’s heritage landscape evolution. The study underscores the interconnectedness of heritage sites across these regions, contributing to a deeper understanding of how landscape connectivity and trade network dynamics evolved over time. Furthermore, by identifying patterns of network development and shifts in centrality and density, this research offers valuable insights for the conservation and management of heritage landscapes. These findings are particularly crucial for preserving the historical and cultural integrity of Silk Road heritage sites. Full article

Arid central Asia (ACA) is dominated by mid-latitude westerlies and characterized by a climate optimum (a relatively humid climate that has supported the development of human culture) in clear contrast with the climate of monsoonal Asia during the Holocene. Significantly, whether the onset of the Holocene Climate Optimum (HCO) had an impact on cultural exchanges along the ancient Silk Road remains unknown. In this study, we compared the onset of the HCO in different parts of the vast ACA region by referring to a variety of previously established paleo-moisture/precipitation records. Intriguingly, we found significant differences in the onset of the HCO between the western and eastern parts of ACA. The onset of the HCO in the western part of ACA (i.e., to the west of the Tianshan Mountains) mainly occurred at ~8 ka BP (1 ka = 1000 cal yr BP). In contrast, the onset of the HCO occurred at ~6 ka in northern Xinjiang and even as late as ~5 ka in southern Xinjiang; this is a delay of 2–3 thousand years compared with the western part of ACA. These results likely indicate that the onset of the HCO occurred in a time-transgressive manner in ACA, namely, ‘early in the west but late in the east’. On the other hand, we found that the onset of the HCO in the western part of ACA may have resulted in the inception of wheat planting and the development of agricultural civilization and that the onset of the HCO in northern Xinjiang may have prompted the southward migration of Afanasievo culture after ~5 ka. Additionally, the initiation of the HCO in southern Xinjiang could provide an environmental basis for the spread and planting of wheat and millet in this area after ~4.5 ka. We speculate that the spatial differences in the onset of the HCO in ACA are mainly related to temporal changes in the intensity and position of the mid-latitude westerly jet. Although the increase in insolation and reduction in the global ice volume would have led to an increase in the water vapor feeding the western part of ACA around 8 ka, the climate in the eastern part of ACA (namely, the Xinjiang region) could have only become humid after 6 ka when the westerlies were intensified and became positioned in the south. Moreover, the delayed HCO in southern Xinjiang probably benefited from the stronger westerly winds that appeared around 5 ka, which could have overcome the influence of the tall topography of the Tianshan Mountains. Therefore, in addition to external forcing (i.e., insolation), the ocean–atmospheric teleconnection, the regional topography, and their connection to the climate system are important in determining the spatial differences in the time-transgressive onset of the HCO in ACA. Our findings contribute to understanding the spatio-temporal characteristics of the hydroclimate in regions with complex eco-environmental systems and a diverse history of human activity. Full article

The connection between Europe and Asia has always been important for the flow of materials and intellectual goods. Hungary is in an important position in Central Europe to connect different key ports and logistics hubs. Therefore, this article aims to analyse the opportunities and impacts of the New Silk Road initiative on the supply chain and transportation network in Hungary. This result showed that the existence of the New Silk Road gives huge opportunities for different supply-chain-related activities and initiatives, especially for the Hungarian automotive industry. Specifically, the New Silk Road has the potential to enable the advantages and positive impact of rail transport activities in Hungarian automotive supply chains by providing a long-term competitive solution as an alternative to maritime transport while mitigating several related risks and increasing the domestic supply chain’s resilience. Consequentially, the New Silk Road initiative may affect the supply chains and transportation route networks of several European and Asian nations, including Hungary. Full article

As a distinct species in the Tianshan Mountains (TS) of Central Asia (CA), Picea schrenkiana plays a significant role in water purification, soil and water conservation, and climate regulation. In the context of climate change, rapidly and accurately obtaining its spatial distribution has critical decision-making significance for maintaining ecological security in the arid area of CA and the sustainable development of the “Silk Road Economic Belt”. However, conventional methods are extremely challenging to accomplish the high-resolution mapping of Picea schrenkiana in the TS, which is characterized by a wide range (9.97 × 10⁵ km²) and complex terrain. The approach of geo-big data and cloud computing provides new opportunities to address this issue. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to propose an automatic extraction procedure for the spatial distribution of Picea schrenkiana based on Google Earth Engine and the Jeffries–Matusita (JM) distance, which considered three aspects: sample points, remote-sensing images, and classification features. The results showed that (1) after removing abnormal samples and selecting the summer image, the producer accuracy (PA) of Picea schrenkiana was improved by 2.95% and 0.24%–2.10%, respectively. (2) Both the separation obtained by the JM distance and the analysis results of eight schemes showed that spectral features and texture features played a key role in the mapping of Picea schrenkiana. (3) The JM distance can seize the classification features that are most conducive to the mapping of Picea schrenkiana, and effectively improve the classification accuracy. The PA and user accuracy of Picea schrenkiana were 96.74% and 96.96%, respectively. The overall accuracy was 91.93%, while the Kappa coefficient was 0.89. (4) The results show that Picea schrenkiana is concentrated in the middle TS and scattered in the remaining areas. In total, 85.7%, 66.4%, and 85.9% of Picea schrenkiana were distributed in the range of 1500–2700 m, 20–40°, and on shady slope and semi-shady slope, respectively. The automatic procedure adopted in this study provides a basis for the rapid and accurate mapping of the spatial distribution of coniferous forests in the complex terrain. Full article

With the widespread recognition and in-depth implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), especially in the context of global climate change, the ecological environment of Belt and Road Initiative regions might be confronted with pressures and challenges with rapid socioeconomic development. In response to those potential environmental challenges, China has put forward Green BRI and enriched the new Silk Road with more environmental connotations, aiming to reduce the conflict between economic development and eco-environmental protection. Currently, there is a lack of systematic and holistic research on eco-environmental issues in BRI regions. In addition, feasible solutions to enhance BRI’s contribution to the eco-environment remain insufficient. Having systematically reviewed the relevant literature on the eco-environment in BRI regions, we found that most regions along the BRI routes are in sensitive zones of climate and geological change, with fragile eco-environments and strong vulnerability to climate change, natural disasters and human activities. The main eco-environment status of the BRI regions is as follows: (1) The total water resources in BRI regions account for only 36% of the global total, with uneven distribution and complex spatial precipitation, posing higher pressure on water security. (2) Vegetation varies significantly from region to region. The vegetation in South Asia is the richest, with its mean annual NDVI exceeding 0.7. The NDVI in East Europe, Russia and South China are between 0.4 and 0.7, and that in Central Asia and West Asia are below 0.2. (3) The BRI regions are abundantly blessed with natural resources, with the total recoverable oil reserves, natural gas reserves and the total mining area reaching 66%, 65.5% and 42.31% of the world’s total, respectively, but severe overexploitation and overconsumption of those resources degrade their eco-environment. Accordingly, future research directions, such as target on integrated, interdisciplinary and coordinated studies on eco-environmental issues in BRI regions, are proposed in this paper to achieve optimization of BRI’s contribution to eco-environment protection in BRI regions. Full article

Numerous studies have confirmed that climate change leads to a decrease in the net ecosystem productivity (NEP) of terrestrial ecosystems and alters regional carbon source/sink patterns. However, the response mechanism of NEP to climate change in the arid regions of Central Asia remains unclear. Therefore, this study combined the Carnegie–Ames–Stanford approach (CASA) and empirical models to estimate the NEP in Central Asia and quantitatively evaluate the sensitivity of the NEP to climate factors. The results show that although the net primary productivity (NPP) in Central Asia exhibits an increasing trend, it is not significant. Soil heterotrophic respiration (RH) has increased significantly, while the NEP has decreased at a rate of 6.1 g C·m⁻²·10 a⁻¹. Spatially, the regional distribution of the significant increase in RH is consistent with that of the significant decrease in the NEP, which is concentrated in western and southern Central Asia. Specifically, the NPP is more sensitive to precipitation than temperature, whereas RH and NEP are more sensitive to temperature than precipitation. The annual contribution rates of temperature and precipitation to the NEP are 28.79% and 23.23%, respectively. Additionally, drought has an important impact on the carbon source/sink in Central Asia. Drought intensified from 2001 to 2008, leading to a significant expansion of the carbon source area in Central Asia. Therefore, since the start of the 21st century, climate change has damaged the NEP of the Central Asian ecosystem. Varying degrees of warming under different climate scenarios will further aggravate the expansion of carbon source areas in Central Asia. An improved understanding of climate change impacts in Central Asia is critically required for sustainable development of the regional economy and protection of its natural environment. Our results provide a scientific reference for the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and global emissions reduction. Full article

By employing multi-reanalysis daily datasets and station data, this study focuses on the evolution characteristics of the daily-scale Silk Road pattern (SRP) and its effect on summer temperatures in the Yangtze River Valley (YRV). The results manifest that the evolution characteristics of positive- and negative-phase SRP (referred to SRP+ and SRP−) exhibit marked distinctions. The anomaly centers of SRP+ over West Central Asia (WCA) and Mongolia emerge firstly, vanishing simultaneously one week after peak date; however, the Far East (FE) anomaly centers can persist for a longer period. The SRP− starts with the WCA and FE centers, with a rapid decline in the strength of the WCA center and preservation of other anomaly centers after its peak. In the vertical direction, daily-scale SRP mainly concentrates in the mid-to-upper troposphere. Baroclinicity accounts for its early development and barotropic instability process favors the maintenance. Moreover, the SRP+ (SRP−) is inextricably linked to heat wave (cool summer) processes in the YRV. Concretely, before the onset of SRP+ events, an anomalous anticyclone and significant negative vorticities over East Asia related to SRP+ favor the zonal advance between the South Asia high (SAH) and western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH), inducing local descents over YRV area. The sinking adiabatic warming and clear-sky radiation warming can be considered as the possible causes for the YRV heat waves. The adiabatic cooling with the local ascents leads to more total cloud cover (positive precipitation anomalies) and less solar radiation incident to surface of the YRV, inducing the cool summer process during SRP−. Full article

In the era of the global pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus, 3D digitisation of selected museum artefacts is becoming more and more frequent practice, but the vast majority is performed by specialised teams. The paper presents the results of comparative studies of 3D digital models of the same museum artefacts from the Silk Road area generated by two completely different technologies: Structure from Motion (SfM)—a method belonging to the so-called low-cost technologies—and by Structured-light 3D Scanning (3D SLS). Moreover, procedural differences in data acquisition and their processing to generate three-dimensional models are presented. Models built using a point cloud were created from data collected in the Afrasiyab museum in Samarkand (Uzbekistan) during “The 1st Scientific Expedition of the Lublin University of Technology to Central Asia” in 2017. Photos for creating 3D models in SfM technology were taken during a virtual expedition carried out under the “3D Digital Silk Road” program in 2021. The obtained results show that the quality of the 3D models generated with SfM differs from the models from the technology (3D SLS), but they may be placed in the galleries of the vitrual museum. The obtained models from SfM do not have information about their size, which means that they are not fully suitable for archiving purposes of cultural heritage, unlike the models from SLS. Full article

In spite of picturesque landscapes, natural beauties and authentic traditional lifestyles to be seen in East Kazakhstan, tourism is far from being developed. The Kazakh Altai (called the Kazakh Switzerland) is one the most colourful parts of the country and, indeed, all Central Asia. The attractiveness of this geographically isolated region (formerly a part of the Imperial Russia), consisting of rocky semi-deserts, vast parkland-steppes, and rugged mountain terrains, is reflected in its distinctive geological and geomorphological character, its pristine nature, and its extraordinary geodiversity and biodiversity. This study presents a roster of geotourism and ecotourism loci for the broader Altai area within a framework of sustainable development. The modelled assessment of the tourism and recreation potential is based upon multi-proxy analyses of GIS, DEM, and cartographic data. It integrates the most appealing natural (biotic and abiotic) site-specific natural features across all physiographic zones within a broad region. The most significant and representative geosites fall within three geographic sectors suitable for geo- and ecotourism. Prospects for travel to these places are enhanced by the presence of numerous prehistoric archaeological sites and historical monuments, which document the rich, multi-ethnic background of Kazakhstan and the ancient Silk Road that traverses it. These geological, environmental and cultural resources, and the regional geoheritage and environmental conservation concepts have been figured into strategies for economic growth of rural Kazakhstan. Visitors travelling to this most appealing region are constrained by climate of pronounced continentality, seasonality, geographic accessibility, the international border-zone regulations and a lack of services of an international standard. Full article

Climate change and cultural exchange both influenced cultural development along the continental Silk Road during the late Holocene, but climate change and its influence on nomadic civilizations during that time has yet to be systematically assessed. In this study, we analyzed records of climate change along the Silk Road covering key periods in the late Holocene, based on multiproxies from various archives including lake sediments, shorelines/beach ridges, peatlands, ice cores, tree rings, aeolian sediments, moraines, and historical documents. Combined with archaeological data, we assessed the influence of climate on development and expansion of representative pastoral nomadism. Our results show that the most notable climate changes in Central Asia were characterized by decreasing temperature, expanding glaciers, increasing precipitation, and increasing humidity during transitions from the Sub-Boreal to Sub-Atlantic Period (ca. 9–8th century BC) and from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age (ca. 13–14th century AD). The two periods coincided with Scythian Cultural expansion across the steppe landscape of Central Asia and rise of the Mongol Empire, respectively. These temporal coincidences are interpreted as causally related, where temperature fall and glacial advance may have forced the pastoral nomadism to southward migration. Coeval wetness and southward migration of steppe landscape in Central Asia were beneficial for these cultural expansions, which spanned the Eurasian arid and semi-arid zone westward. Therefore, during the historical period when productivity was underdeveloped, although expansions of pastoral nomadism were closely related to internal social structures, climate change was possibly the most critical controlling factor for sustainability development and collapse. Full article

Asia, Europe, and Africa, connected by the maritime silk road (MSR) and the land silk road (LSR), as the cradle of ancient civilizations, contain rich cultural heritage resources. While aiming to achieve differentiated and targeted application, protection, and development of world cultural heritage (WCHS), it is essential to identify the temporal-spatial distribution features of WCHS on these three continents. For these WCHS elements, based on big earth data, we semi-quantitatively describe the features of spatial-temporal distribution, material types, civilization and religion characters, capital investment capacity, and risks by data cleaning, spatial analysis, and risk assessment. Our findings reveal features in these WCHS elements, including temporal and spatial distribution, the amount of different ancient civilizations and cultural diversity, and the need for preservation and funding capacity. Finally, this study’s results indicate that we should take full advantage of the potential of cultural heritage, digital technologies, and the scientific protection of cultural heritage along with the MSR and LSR. Moreover, declarations of heritage in Africa and Central Asia should be extended to realize the precise “poverty alleviation” of WCHS protection in these regions. For further planning of WCHS sites along the Silk Road, we propose countermeasures to protect the global cultural heritage in the future and also provide theoretical guidance and specific scientific implementation directions to “strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage,” as proposed by the United Nations. Full article

Central Asia is a vital link in the huge Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that follows much of the ancient Silk Road routes in this region. Other than the economic expansion and trade benefits associated with this complex infrastructure system, little is known about the many of the exogenous issues and direct environmental and socioeconomic impacts surrounding the BRI in Central Asia. This opinion paper takes a sharper look at some of these externalities and potential effects through a sustainability lens. Major environmental concerns focus on the proliferation of spur roads that will develop off upgraded or new Belt Roads to promote exploitation of natural resources. Steep, high-elevation landscapes in the Pamirs and Tien Shan pose problems for road location and construction, and the history of road building in less formidable terrain in Yunnan, China is unsustainable, leading to epic landslide and gully erosion, which degrade river systems. Furthermore, many socioeconomic issues may arise like debt dependencies of poor countries, spread of communicable diseases into remote communities, depletion of mineral resources, and implicit compliance with pro-China policies. While some of the poorer post-Soviet nations can reap short-term benefits from BRI plans, it is urged that they assess the long-term sustainability of BRI development and play an active role in determining the conditions for implementation. Full article

Infrastructure elements are a crucial factor in accommodating larger ships, organizing longer trains, and ensuring the higher flow of goods in intermodal hubs. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) supports the development of infrastructure on the defined transport routes—the Maritime Silk Road (MSR), which includes the European southern transport route through the northern Adriatic. The research emphasizes the importance of the port, and railway infrastructure development on the Baltic–Adriatic Corridor (BAC) by analyzing the pollution level produced from transport means currently employed. The results of SO₂, NO_x, PM10, and the energy efficiency of intermodal transport chains prove that the current transport route to the northern leg of the BAC via the port of Gdansk is more environmentally friendly, even if it is about 3000 NM longer. The article provides a scientific contribution by pollution data elaboration for demonstrating the need and justification for high investment in BAC in order to establish sustainable transport chains. The study shows that pollution values from supply chains on the Asia–Central Europe axis could be reduced by up to 30% by eliminating infrastructural barriers in the port of Koper and on the railway network at BAC, which is one of the primary goals of BRI. Full article

Central Asian countries attract investment in transport infrastructure to rebuild the Silk Road paths and enjoy economic benefits from the participation in international trade. The Kazakhstani government approached the Russian and Chinese governments intending to join the Western Europe–Western China (WE–WC) initiative to boost the country’s regional development. The paper aims to assess how the WE–WC transport corridor affected the economic potential of linking cities and regions starting from the quality of transport infrastructure and leading to their export potential. The study’s findings showed that the Kazakhstan section of the WE–WC corridor was at an early stage of transformation from a transport into an economic corridor. While the Russia-Uzbekistan section continues to serve mainly a transit function and operate at the level of transport infrastructure, the China-Kyrgyzstan section has started evolving from the level of multimode transport corridor to the level of logistics corridor. The economic sustainability of the WE–WC linking mining and agricultural regions of Kazakhstan still comes into question and depends on the government’s further region-specific policy actions. Full article