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The Laternendecke Ceiling: TransmissionsAcross Afro-Eurasia?

  • Susan WHITFIELD (Silk Road Studies, Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, at the University of East Anglia)
  • Published : 2025.06.30
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Abstract

In my article for the previous edition of this journal, I discussed the transmission of the squinch-supported dome across Asia and its early appearance at Miran in the Tarim Basin in order to explore the issue of mapping cultural influences and differentiating them from independent development. Here I turn my attention to the laternendecke-style ceiling to explore further these issues. The laternendecke is found in above- and below-ground architecture across Eurasia, both structural and non-structural, including painted representations. Several recent articles have discussed it in more detail but most concentrate on only some of the geographical subsets. Here I consider these subsets chronologically, covering Afro-Eurasia and concentrating on the period up to the end of the first millennium CE. I suggest revisions to some earlier misleading chronologies and also discuss the problems of identifying, naming, and clearly distinguishing between architectural features.

Keywords

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