中国石窟寺考古学的创建历程——读宿白先生《中国石窟寺研究》

Reviewing Prof. Su Bai's Studies on Chinese Grottoes

一宿白先生《中国石窟寺研究》一书,1996年8月由文物出版社出版。这是一部研究中国石窟寺考古学的专著,它记录了中国历史考古学的一个分支——中国石窟寺考古学的创建历程,是当代中国考古学研究中的一项丰硕学术成果,也是近年中国考古学的重要著作。

Professor Su Bai's Studies on Chinese Grottoes,published by Cultural Relics PublishingHouse in 1996,provides us with a panoramic look at a branch of Chinese archaeology,i. e.,the archaeology of Chinese grottoes. The book includes twenty-three papers written or pub-lished in the period from 1951 to 1996. The research of Chinese grottoes can be largely di-vided into two stages,one prior to the 1950s and the other since then. What differentiatesone from the other is whether archaeological methods are involved in the reconnaissanceand research of Chinese grottoes. The work in the first stage,either by foreign or Chinesescholars, was done largely from the perspective of history of art. The second stage, repre-sented by Prof. Subai,features the application of modern archaeological methods and tech-niques to the research of Chinese grottoes. The achievements made by Prof. Su Bai infounding the archaeology of Chinese grottoes are impressive,and his studies as presented inthis book mirror the whole development of archaeological research in the area.