Documenting Karakorum Rock Art

Ukraine

The Karakorum rock carvings are one of the first-known Buddhist carvings that speak to the movement of Buddhist ideology from India to China. In addition to the imminent submersion that will occur with the construction of the Diamer-Basher dam, the heritage is at risk by ongoing looting, illicit trafficking, acts of vandalism. In 2020, Abdul Khan Ghani documented 202 carvings and 22 boulders in Chilas I and Chilas II. This project will implement sensitization workshops with community members and local authorities. It will map and document, though photogrammetry, the carvings at the site together with members from the local community. With the collected data, an impact assessment will be made.