The project's research is making a significant contribution to the study of Old Uyghur writing and printing culture, as well as to our understanding of cultural exchange along the northern Silk Road.
The research project pursues two core objectives. The initial core objective is to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the content, formal, technical and functional aspects of approximately 1,600 Old Uyghur prints from the 13th to 14th centuries. This analysis will be conducted in comparison with Chinese, Mongolian, Tangut and Tibetan prints from the same period, with a particular focus on identifying similarities and differences. The second core objective is the development of the Online Metadata of Old Uyghur Prints (OMAD) database. This will expand the metadata of the prints recorded in the Qalamos database of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz. As a result, the research data generated by the project will be available for long-term use in accordance with the FAIR principles. The final outcome of the project will be a monograph, entitled 'Prints and printing culture of Old Uyghurs on the northern Silk Road', in addition to the Online Metadata of Old Uyghur Prints (OMAD).
In addition to the Chinese, Tangut and Tibetan prints, the Uyghur prints constitute a significant yet relatively understudied testament to the writing and printing culture of the northern Silk Road. They constitute the most extensive surviving group of prints from the 13th to 14th centuries and are also unique. Concurrently, the oldest extant examples of printing technology in an alphabetic script on the Silk Road are the Old Uyghur prints and movable wooden letters. Furthermore, the Old Uyghurs played a significant role in the translation, utilisation and dissemination of printed texts. The unique project corpus comprises in excess of 1,600 Old Uyghur prints and fragments. Furthermore, there are 960 wooden letters from Dunhuang, which are currently housed in the Musée Guimet in Paris, and 54 wooden letters that are preserved in the Dunhuang Academy in China.
Duration: 2024–2026
The project is funded by the DFG.