Description:

Jason Neelis (Wilfrid Laurier University) will be presenting a Global Antiquities workshop entitled "Capillary Networks in a Contact Zone: Upper Indus Rock Inscriptions and Petroglyphs" on Friday, November 18, 2–3:30 p.m. CT via Zoom.

Zoom link: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/94102989406.

Abstract: Networks of capillary routes in the Karakorum-Hindukush region connected South Asian and Central Asian overland arteries for cross-cultural transmission in antiquity. Dozens of complexes at sites with concentrations of petroglyphs and inscriptions along the Upper Indus River and tributary valleys have been explored and documented since the opening of the Karakorum Highway between northern Pakistan and China. These written and visual records created by visitors and local residents from prehistoric times to the present are now threatened with inundation in a flood basin that will result from construction of a dam on the Indus River. This talk aims to situate Upper Indus rock inscriptions and petroglyphs in historical contexts of a contact zone with tremendous linguistic, religious and cultural diversity while showcasing efforts to apply digital imaging and annotation techniques before the complexes are submerged.