Christoph Baumer (born June 23, 1952) is a Swiss explorer and historian of

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

. From 1984 onwards, he has conducted explorations in Central Asia, China, Tibet and the Caucasus, the results of which have been published in numerous books, scholarly publications, TV and radio programs.

Life

Baumer grew up in the Swiss Canton of

Thurgau Thurgau (; french: Thurgovie; it, Turgovia), anglicized as Thurgovia, more formally the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts and its capital is Frauenfeld. Thurgau is par ...

. His father was a businessman; his mother had been a war correspondent for the French national press agency and reported during the Finnish-Russian war in the winter of 1939–1940. Sven Hedin, the renowned explorer of Asia, aided her return to occupied

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, at that time her home. As an adolescent, Baumer was already fascinated by the travel reports of Hedin, and these likely laid the foundation for Baumer’s later development. After obtaining a PhD at the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

, he first worked in business till he became a freelance author and photographer with emphasis on the cultural history of Central Asia and the Caucasus. His books have been published in five languages. Christoph Baumer is, together with Therese Weber, initiating Founding Member and President of the archaeological Society for the Exploration of EurAsia. The Society makes scientific contributions to the exploration of the cultures of Eurasia. It promotes archaeological fieldwork in 6 to 8 countries and the scientific exchange of ideas and experience through publications and international conferences.

Exploration in the Taklamakan Desert

In 1994, Baumer led the First Sino-Swiss

Taklamakan The Taklimakan or Taklamakan Desert (; zh, s=塔克拉玛干沙漠, p=Tǎkèlāmǎgān Shāmò, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Такәламаган Шамә; ug, تەكلىماكان قۇملۇقى, Täklimakan qumluqi; also spelled Taklimakan and Te ...

Expedition, and was the first Westerner to reach the ancient oasis of Niya and

Loulan Loulan, also called Krorän or Kroraina ( zh, s=, t=, p=Lóulán <

Eastern Han Chinese

''lo-lɑn'' <

since the 1930s. The Second International Taklamakan Expedition followed in 1998. Christoph Baumer was the first visitor to the ancient ruined city

Dandan Oilik Dandan Oilik (), also Dandān-Uiliq, ''lit.'' "the houses with ivory", is an abandoned historic oasis town and Buddhist site in the Taklamakan Desert of China, located to the northeast of Khotan in what is now the autonomous region of Xinjiang, b ...

in the Taklamakan Desert since Emil Trinkler and Walter Bosshard in 1928. Results of this expedition were, among others, the rediscovery and excavation of unknown ruins in Dandan Oilik and Buddhist murals dating from the mid-8th century A.D.; the discovery of a paper document from the 7th/8th century set in the Khotanese language and Brahmi script; the discovery of a very rare stone inscription in

Kharoshthi The Kharoṣṭhī script, also spelled Kharoshthi (Kharosthi: ), was an ancient Indo-Iranian script used by various Aryan peoples in north-western regions of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely around present-day northern Pakistan and e ...

from the 3rd century A.D. in the ruined city Endere; and the rediscovery of a Tibetan inscription from 790. From this expedition stemmed the

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

(Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) TV-documentary "The Lost City of Taklamakan". In 2003, Baumer conducted the Third International Taklamakan Expedition in collaboration with the Archaeological Institute of Ürümqi, Xinjiang and a representative of the University of London, during which he made finds north of Qiemo from the

Neolithic Age The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

(4th – 3rd millennium B.C.). In 2007, he led the Fourth International Taklamakan Expedition into unexplored regions of the Lop Nor Desert. There he discovered, among others, a heretofore-unknown settlement, dating from approximately 100 B.C. – 400 A.D. Lop nor 2007 800

In 2009, he led the Fifth International Taklamakan Expedition into the unexplored ancient delta of the River Keriya in the centre of the desert, and discovered two unknown graveyards: Satma Mazar (

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

) and Ayala Mazar (

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

).Christoph Baumer: The Ayala Mazar – Xiaohe Culture. New archaeological discoveries in the Taklamakan Desert, China. Journal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, London, 1/2011 The History of Central Asia, vol. I. The Age of the Steppe Warriors. I.B. Tauris, London, 2012, pp. 129–132. Keriya 2009 800

Other explorations

Further expeditions took Baumer to southern

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

in 1996, where he rediscovered in the former monastery Sekar Guthok forgotten murals from the 13th century; and in 1997 again to southern Tibet, where he discovered in the Pa-Lha-Puk Monastery the oldest existing murals of the Bön religion - from the early 15th century - in all of Tibet. In the years 2000 to 2005 he researched and documented most of the relevant cultural monuments of the Assyrian Church of the East, from southeastern Turkey till Mongolia, China and southern India. In the years 1993, 2006 and 2007 he visited and documented all Buddhist monasteries of Mount Wutai Shan, northwestern China. From 2013 to 2019 he explored on six journeys the Caucasus region in view of a forthcoming publication on the history of the Caucasus.

Bibliography

* ''History of the Caucasus'' (Volume Two): ''The Long Way to Independence''. I.B. Tauris, London, 2023. * ''History of the Caucasus'' (Volume One): ''At the Crossroads of Empires''. I.B. Tauris, London, 2021. * ''The History of Central Asia'' (Volume Four): ''The Age of Decline and Revival''. I.B. Tauris, London, 2018. * ''The History of Central Asia'' (Volume Three): ''The Age of Islam and the Mongols''. I.B. Tauris, London, 2016. * ''The History of central Asia'' (Volume Two): ''The Age of the Silk Roads''. I.B. Tauris, London 2014. * ''The History of Central Asia'' (Volume One): ''The Age of the Steppe Warriors''. I.B. Tauris, London, 2012. * ''China's Holy Mountain: An Illustrated Journey into the Heart of Buddhism''. I.B. Tauris, London, 2011. * ''The Church of the East: An illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity''. I.B. Tauris, London, 2006, revised 2016. * ''Traces in the Desert: Journeys of Discovery across Central Asia''. I.B.Tauris, London, 2008. * ''Eastern Tibet: Bridging Tibet and China''. Co-author Therese Weber. Orchid Press, 2005. * ''Southern Silk Road: In the Footsteps of Sir Aurel Stein and Sven Hedin''. 2nd revised edition, Orchid Press, 2004. 974-8304-39-6 (Paperback) (Hardback) * ''Tibet's Ancient Religion: Bön''. Weatherhill and Orchid Press, 2002. (Asia & Europe), (Americas) * As co-editor with Mirko Novák: ''Urban Cultures of Central Asia from the Bronze Age to the Karakhanids''. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2019.

References

External links

The Society for the Exploration of EurAsia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baumer, Christoph 1952 births Living people People from Zürich Swiss explorers Swiss photographers Swiss non-fiction writers Swiss male writers Explorers of Tibet Male non-fiction writers Swiss historians