The Kizil Caves (also romanized as Qizil or Qyzyl; ; ) are a set of Buddhist rock-cut caves located near Kizil Township () in Baicheng County, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. The site is located on the northern bank of the Muzat River 65 kilometres (40 miles) (75 km; 50 miles by road) west of Kucha. This area was a commercial hub of the Silk Road. The caves have an important role in Central Asian art and in the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism, and are said to be the earliest major Buddhist cave complex in China, with development occurring between the 3rd and 8th centuries CE. The caves of Kizil are the earlier of their type in China, and their model was later adopted in the construction of Buddhist caves further east. Another name for the site has been Ming-oi (), although this term is now mainly used for the site of Shorchuk to the east.
The Kizil Caves were inscribed in 2014 on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor World Heritage Site.
Caves
The Kizil Caves complex is the largest of the ancient Buddhist cave sites that are associated with the ancient Tocharian kingdom of Kucha, as well as the largest in Xinjiang. Other famous sites nearby are the Kizilgaha Caves, the Kumtura Caves, Subashi Temple and the Simsim Caves.(Other than Kizil)... "The nearby site of Kumtura contains over a hundred caves, forty of which contain painted murals or inscriptions. Other cave sites near Kucha include Subashi, Kizilgaha, and Simsim." in The Kizil Caves are "the earliest representative grottoes in China". At the time the caves were created, the area of Kucha was following the orthodox Sarvastivadin school of Hinayana Buddhism, although an early and minority Dharmagupta presence has also been noted. The simpler square caves may have been established by the Dharmagupta from the 4th century CE or earlier, while the "central pillar" caves, which flourished from the mid-6th century CE, can rather be associated with the Sarvastivadin school.
Overview There are 236 cave temples in Kizil, carved into the cliff stretching from east to west for a length of 2 km (1¼ miles). Of these, 135 are still relatively intact. The earliest caves are dated, based in part on radioactive carbon dating, to around the year 300. Most researchers believe that the caves were probably abandoned sometime around the beginning of the 8th century, after Tang influence reached the area. Documents written in Tocharian languages were found in Kizil and a few of the caves contain Tocharian and Sanskrit inscriptions which give the names of a few rulers.
Many of the caves have a central pillar design, whereby pilgrims may circumambulate around a central column incorporating a niche for a statue of the Buddha, which is a representation of the stupa.
There are three other types of caves: square caves, caves "with a colossal image", and monastic cells (kuti). Around two-thirds of the caves are kutis which are monks' living quarters and store-houses and these caves do not contain mural paintings. Chronology remains the subject of debate.
"Central pillar" cave structure In the typical "central pillar" design, pilgrims can circumambulate around a central column incorporating a niche for a statue of the Buddha, which is a representation of the stupa. The so-called "central pillar" which appears on a plan is actually not a pillar at all but only the rock at the back of the cave, into which was bored a circular corridor allowing for circumambulation.
A large vaulted chamber is located in front of the "central pillar" column and a smaller rear chamber behind with two tunnel-like corridors on the sides linking these spaces. In the front chamber, a three-dimensional image of Buddha would have been housed in a large niche serving as the focus of the interior, however, none of these sculptures have survived at Kizil. The rear chamber may feature the parinirvana scene in the form of a mural or large sculpture, and in some cases, a combination of both. The "central pillar" layout is possibly related to the structural design of Kara Tepe in northern Bactria.
The program of the paintings in the "central pillar" caves generally follows a fixed arrangement: the walls of the main cella show sermons of the Buddha, the ceiling has rhomboid vignettes alluding to Jatakas, the central niche has the scene of the Indrasala Cave. The back room or corridor has scenes related to the Parinirvana, and finally the painting over the exit is related to the Tusita Heaven and the future Buddha Maitreya.
Exploration
The Kizil Caves were first discovered and explored in 1902–1904 by the Ōtani expedition, a Japanese expedition under Tesshin Watanabe (渡辺哲信) and Kenyu Hori (堀賢雄), funded by Count Otani, but the expedition left hurriedly after four months of exploration in the area of Kucha, following a local earthquake."It is the merit of Kenyu Hori and Tesshin Watanabe to have discovered and first examined the cave complex of Kizil. Unfortunately, the efforts and findings of this examination have been destroyed by an earthquake that scared away the Japanese scholars, which enabled the Germans to uncover, carry away and come out with the treasures of this site a short while afterwards (Klimkeit, 1988, 38)" in
The Kizil caves were then explored by Albert Grünwedel, head of the Third German Turfan Expedition (December 1905 – July 6, 1907). Albert von Le Coq was also part of the third German expedition and was under the direction of Albert Grünwedel, but only remained until June 1906, when he had to leave for British India due to a heavy illness. The caves were photographed, drawings were made, and large portions of the murals were removed and sent to Germany.
Grünwedel removed a great number of paintings, but was careful to make records before doing so in order to retain their archaeological value, and to photograph or draw them before cutting them out, out of fear that they could be destroyed upon removal or during transport. He used a canvas to take quite precise records of the paintings. For example, Grünwedel recounts how he discovered a very interesting mural with warriors in the Cave of the Painters (207). Intending to remove it, he first made a precise drawing. But once the drawing was made, the mural disintegrated upon removal and was lost, except for a few fragments still in-situ. Altogether, the Third German Expedition still removed many paintings, and shipped almost 120 crates of murals to Berlin. Grünwedel published the result of his explorations in 1912 in Altbuddhistische Kultstätten in Chinesisch Turkistan, Bericht über archäologische Arbeiten von 1906 bis 1907 bei Kuča, Qarašahr und in der Oase Turfan.
Grünwedel discovered that the Kizil Caves were essential in the understanding of the development of Buddhist art, and suggested some forms of Western artistic influences as well:
The French explorer Paul Pelliot and his photographer Charles Nouette, who were in Kucha from January 1907, visited Kizil soon after the German mission, from September 1, 1907, over a few days, and Charles Nouette took many beautiful and informative photographs."Mission Paul Pelliot 1906–1908. Entre le 1/9/1907 et le 3/9/1907" in
Albert von Le Coq came back to Kizil and surrounding areas in 1913–1914, heading the Fourth German Expedition, removing many paintings, including those Grünwedel had left in place, but generally taking much fewer records than his predecessor.
Datation schemes Albert Grünwedel and the German school Datation scheme according to the German schoolStyle I"Gandharan"Style II"Sasanian"500–600 CE:Caves 207, 118, 76, 117, 77, 212, 83, 84 In 1912, Grünwedel proposed a structural scheme which remained influential throughout the 20th century. It is essentially based on the definition of two schools of art, "Style 1" and "Style 2". Style I, qualified as "Indo-Iranian", derives from the Art of Gandhara, and murals tend to have dark cinnabar backgrounds with green and orange color schemes and natural shading, and the architecture tends to consist in squarish caves with cupola ceilings. Style II derives from Sasanian art, and is characterized by a strong contrast between brilliant green-blue pigments. Architecturally, the caves of Style II have a central stupa-pillar surrounded by a circular corridor for circumambulation. According to Grünwedel, Style II was before the 8th century CE. After Grünwedel, Albert von Le Coq and Ernst Waldschmidt proposed dates, based in the epigraphic inscriptions found in the caves. They proposed to date Style I from 500 to 600, and Style II from 600 to 650 CE. These chronological guidelines remained extremely influential throughout the 20th century, as late as the 1980s.
Modern attempts at Carbon 14 dating Various attempts at radio-carbon analysis were made over the years, with various degrees of success, but with the main effect of pushing back the dates of the first caves to circa 300 CE, and challenging the German classification according to styles and colors schemes.
In 1979, a Chinese institute (文物保护科学技术研究所, Wenwu baohu kexue jishu yanjiusuo) carbon-tested caves 63, 47, 13.
Su Bai Datation scheme according to Su Bai (1981)Stage I"Initial stage"310 CE +-80350 CE +-60Stage II"Flourishing stage"395 CE +-65465 CE +-65Stage III"Decline stage"545 CE +-75685 CE +-65Caves 38, 47, 6, 80, 13Caves 77, 17, 171, 104, 139, 119, 35, 36, 92, 118, 39, 49, 14Caves 201, 70, 148, 234, 187, 185, 182, 183, 181, 189, 190, 172, 8, 107B, 107A, 180, 197Huo and Wang (1993)Stage I200–350 CEStage II350–500 CEStage III500–700 CECaves 118, 92, 77, 47, 48, 117, 161, 196, 224, 17, 104Caves 38, 76, 83, 84, 114, 13, 32, 171, 172Caves 110, 57, 212, 81, 184, 188, 199, 207, 8, 205, 99, 4, 123, 206, 178 In 1979–1981, Su Bai (宿白) of Beijing University (北京大学历史系考古教研室, Beijing daxue lishi xi kaogu jiaoyanshi) made an influential carbon-testing campaign for caves 47, 3, 38, 6, 171, 17, 190, 8. Based on these dates and on an analysis of the architecture of the caves (from the simpler to the more sophisticated), Su Bai proposed an influential dating scheme, pushing back the dates of the first caves to circa 300 CE.
Huo and Wang In 1989–1993, Huo and Wang (中国社会科学院考古研究所, Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo) tested the following caves: 224, 76, 4, 8, 34, 68, 77, 98, 104, 114, 117, 118, 119, 125, 129, 135, 162, 171, 180, 189, 196, 198, 206, 212, 219, 227, 27, 39, 48, 60, 69, 84, 91, 92, 99, 123, 139, 161, 165, 178, 207. They proposed a chronology which has some significant differences with the chronology previously proposed by Su Bai.
Japanese teams of Nagoya University (日本名古屋大学) tested in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2011 the following caves: 8, 171, 224, 13, 67, 76, 77, 92, 205.
Many of the results remain inconclusive, sometimes even contradictory, and the historical period in question is rather too short in relation to the uncertainty margin of Carbon 14 datation, to provide a meaningful segmentation of the caves. Most narrow Carbon dates given for the Kizil Caves refer to a 68% probability level (1σ), which implies a significant level of uncertainty, and when dates are adjusted to the 95% probability level (2σ) as standard archaeological practice requires, then the timespan between the earliest and lowest dates becomes so large (about 200 to 300 years), as to make individual comparisons between the caves meaningless. Most researchers now use an approach combining artistic and architectural analysis together with carbon-dating, as a way to approach a reliable nomenclature, as proposed by Marylin Martin Rhie from 2001.
Caves, murals and architecture