The Hadda Excavations, Vol. I(Stupa and Sites) &Vol. III(Figures & Figurines Photographic Album), (bound in one),(Memoirs of the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan IV)

The major work on one of the most important early sites of Asian and Buddhist archaeology. Documentation of the second phase (stucco) of the Buddhist Gandharan school. Iconographic and Stylistic affinity to Taxila. Hadda (Ancient Indian name: Nagarahara) is described as an important site on the Silk Road in the journals of all the early Chinese monks who travelled to India. It is referred to as Hie-lo by Hsuang T'sang. 'The Hadda Excavations' reveals the profound changes which occurred at the end of the stone-working period. Episodes of the life of Buddha interpreted with a greater sense of humanity and with an aesthetic apparently based on problems of light. Activity, with interruptions, may have persisted until the 9th Century. The volume 'Figures and Figurines' is an important record of the Kabul Museum Gandharan inventory, which has been looted and mostly lost since the Russian invasion of 1978 and subsequent civil war. It illustrates the wide variety of costumes, hair styles, ethnic groups, Buddhas, bodhisattvas, etc. from the Hadda Valley, situated near modern Jalalabad above the Khyber Pass in Afghanistan. The main gateway between ancient India (Taxila) and Central Asia (via Bactria). First English translation of the 2-volume 'Les Fouilles de Hadda: Stupas and Sites: Memoirs De La Delegation Archeologique Francaise en Afghanistan (Tome IV)' and 'Les Fouilles de Hadda: Figures and Figurines (Tome VII)'. Sites and Stupas: 208 pp, 198 figures, 1 folding map, 7 fold-out plans. Figures and Figurines: 26 pp, 472 illustrations. Edited by Bruce L. Miller. Limited edition of 999 copies. Enlarged and digitally enhanced b/w illustrations.