previous image || Metal and Stone Vestiges main article || next image

Metal and Stone Vestiges
Religion, Magic and Protection in the Art of Ancient Tibet

Image 3b

This petroglyph of a hunter with bow and arrow pursuing a wild ungulate is one of the most common subject matters in pre-Buddhist rock art. It was proficiently executed using fairly fine incised lines. Here a lone hunter on foot prepares for the final kill of an exaggeratedly large herbivore. The undulating horns of the animal might identify it as an antelope, highly prized for its flesh. Within the body of the animal is a double volute design, a familiar ornamental trait in northwestern Tibet.

all text & images © John Vincent Bellezza

---

previous image || Metal and Stone Vestiges main article || next image