ABSTRACT
The cuboid shaped Tibetan tent, unlike other black tents, has its roof awning extended almost horizontally by an unusual system of stays. The special character of the Tibetan tent was formed by the circumstances of its evolution, and most notable among these was its early separation from the main body of black tents in the west, and its later exposure to influences deriving from the major civilized countries surrounding Tibet. Two types of tent—the parasol—roofed or bell tent and the pavilion tent-are closely identified with urban culture in a large part of the Middle East, and are distributed over a wide area, partially overlapping that in which the black tent is found. The degree of geographical and ethnic specialization of the black tent contrasts with the uniformity of the parasol-roofed and pavilion tents. The black tent, on the contrary, is divided into well defined regional types.
