Page 11 - 2022 UNESCO ICDH Newsletter_vol.3

Youngsoo Bahn
Column

New attempt at Documentary
Sogdian script
Heritage

Potential heritage related to the Silk Roads in

Central Asia(Sogdian Script and Documents)

ICDH is planning a new project, the Silk Road therefore, lies in the fact that different expeditions
Memory of the World, based on its collaborative from different countries often collected fragments
experience with Member States. For this project, belonging to a single manuscript. Those fragments
ICDH and IICAS have set a cooperative plan for were subsequently dispersed around the world,
the excavation of potential Silk Roads related assigned “find signatures” or shelf-numbers
documentary heritage. Their first step will be according to each collection's unique system, and
creating an inventory of documents with Sogdian cataloged independently of one another. The original
scripts. copies of the source documents are currently being
Sogdian is a language belonging to the Iranian stored in locations such as the Berlin-Brandenburg
branch of the Indo-European language family. It Academy of Sciences (Turfanforschung Collection),
was originally spoken in an area centered around British Library (Stein Collection), Institute of
Samarkand in present-day Uzbekistan, extending Oriental Manuscripts in Saint Petersburg (Sogdian
from Bukhara in the west to Tashkent in the Turfan fragments), Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris
northeast. Sogdian set up trading posts along the (The Pelliot Collection), Kyoto (The Ōtani Collection,
so-called "Silk Roads" deep into China and even Finland (The Mannerheim Collection), and others.
Mongolia. As a result, Sogdian came to be spoken To this end, ICDH will collaborate with IICAS
and written over a very wide area, both as a native to conduct inventory studies on existing Sogdian
language and Lingua Franca. From the 4th to 9th scripts along the Central Asian Silk Roads countries
centuries AC, the texts and documents contain and explore the possibility of regional nomination to
the actual trade between Asia and Europe and the “Memory of the World” International Register.
through Central Asia during that time. The contents For centuries, the Silk Road, inclusive of
of comprehensive businesses, such as gunpowder, Sogdian scripts and documents, has been an
the compass, paper, and typography, which are important cultural exchange route, which aided
recognized as the four most remarkable inventions the development of many cities into cultural and
of humankind, are recorded. In addition, it has learning hubs. Sciences, technologies, arts, and
been determined that it played an essential role in crafts were thus shared with disparate groups
the spread of civilization through these texts as a throughout the Silk Roads, which also led to
factor in Western society opening the Ocean Road, languages and cultures influencing each other.
gaining large territory, and popularizing knowledge The project aims to be an efficient tool for
TYPO to form a European-centered world history. cooperation across the Silk Roads to preserve
Sogdian texts are held in a number of different and provide access to documentary heritage. It
collections around the world, each of which uses will serve as the starting point of Silk Road-related
their own numbering system and publishes their documentary heritage which the world is now
own catalogs. The major obstacle encountered, focusing on.

10 UNESCO ICDH Newsletter 11 Memories of Today