Saturday, March 25, 2-4 PM: Book Signing and Meet and Greet with Esther Jacobson-Tepfer

Esther Jacobson-Tepfer is the Maude I. Kerns Professor Emeritus in the Department of the History of Architecture and Art, University of Oregon. She has published more than ten books and many articles on the art and monumental archaeology of the Eurasian steppe, with special focus on the Altai Mountains of northwestern Mongolia.

Journey Into Other Worlds  describes the author's intellectual and physical journey to her multi-year field work in the mountainous boundary between Russia and Mongolia. It recounts the development of her early fascination with that region, the challenges of getting to Siberia and the Russian Altai during the Soviet period, and the physical and intellectual challenges of working in Mongolia's Altai Mountains—a region that was, at that time, virtually unknown even to researchers.

The focus of the author's research has been the rock art and monumental archaeology of the Altai and their relationship to the larger landscape. Her decades of survey, documentation, and mapping have revealed an ancient world of deep culture and considerable beauty. This book also vividly describes the lives of the local herders, inheritors of traditions going back to the Bronze Age.

The book is liberally illustrated with the photographs of Gary Tepfer, the author's husband and partner in this multi-year exploration.