Recent Findings on Buddhist Manuscripts and Images from the Archaeological Investigations in the Mnga’ ris Area of Tibet

Held via Zoom – registration required: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0uf-yhqDoiH9O5aDF2ufaQQmbCm2gPOBcP

From 2019 to 2021, archaeologists from Sichuan University and the Tibet Autonomous Region Cultural Relics Protection Research Institute have spent three years conducting a series of archaeological investigations in the Ngari Prefecture (Tib. Mnga’ ris) of Tibet Autonomous Region. This talk will investigate recent archeological findings from six sites in Ngari, including Phyi dbang, Blo tang, and Yib ri monasteries. Numerous Buddhist manuscripts and images dating from the 9th to the 18th centuries have been discovered in those sites, most of which show strong similarities to those found in the traditional area of Western Tibet. These findings thus offer new possibilities for scholars conducting further research on the history, culture, and art in Western Tibet.

Co-sponsored with the Department of South Asian Studies