mosques, and civic buildings. Dravidian This is an architectural style that emerged in the southern part of the Indian subcontinent and in Sri Lanka. These include Hindu temples with a unique style that involves a shorter pyramidal tower over the garbhagriha or sanctuary called a vimana, where the north has taller towers, usually bending inwards as they rise, called shikharas. These also include secular buildings that may or may not have slanted roofs based on the geographical region. In the Tamil country, this style is influenced by the Sangam period as well as the styles of the great dynasties that ruled it. This style varies in the region to its west in Kerala that is influenced by geographic factors like western trade and the monsoons which result in sloped roofs. Further north, the Karnata Dravida style varies based on the diversity of influences, often relaying much about the artistic trends of the rulers of twelve different dynasties. Kalinga The ancient Kalinga region corresponds to the present-day eastern Indian areas of Odisha, West Bengal and northern Andhra Pradesh. Its architecture reached a peak between the 9th and 12th centuries under the patronage of the Somavamsi dynasty of Odisha. Lavishly sculpted with hundreds of figures, Kalinga temples usually feature repeating forms such as horseshoes. Within the protective walls of the temple complex are three main buildings with distinctive curved towers called deul or deula and prayer halls called jagmohan. East and Southeast Asia Sinosphere What is recognised today as Chinese culture has its roots in the Neolithic period (10,000–2000 BC), covering the cultural sites of Yangshao, Longshan, and Liangzhu in central China. Sections of present-day north-east China also contain sites of the Neolithic Hongshan culture that manifested aspects of proto-Chinese culture. Native Chinese belief systems included naturalistic, animistic and hero worship. In general, open-air platforms (tan, or altar) were used for worshipping naturalistic deities, such as the gods of wind and earth, whereas formal buildings (miao, or temple) were for heroes and deceased ancestors. Most early buildings in China were timber structures. Columns with sets of brackets on the face of the buildings, mostly in even numbers, made the central intercolumnal space the largest interior opening. Heavily tiled roofs sat squarely on the timber building with walls constructed in brick or pounded earth. The transmission of Buddhism into China around the 1st century AD led to a new era of religious practices,