ancient egypt, move over

Shiva Raj Shrestha "Malla"

The world knew nothing about the deserted and mysterious prehistoric cave settlements and fortresses hidden deep inside the northern laps of Mt. Dhaulagiri and Mt. Annapurna in the lost kingdom of Lo-Man-Thang (Upper Mustang). When Dr. Tony Hagen published his famous book "Nepal", way back in 1961, the photograph #38 of this book under the caption "Deserted Cave Dwellings in the Extreme North of Nepal" caught the attention of the academics as well as the adventure tourists of the world. Before Dr. Tony Hagen, Prof. G. Tucci had also written about these huge cave systems.

It was only in 1978, the Department of Archeology sent a team of archeologists to Mustang. As a result, a Nepal-German project on "High Mountain Archeology" was started to study these cave-dwellings, fortresses, "Bon" temples, monasteries, open-air villages and the prehistoric people living there and their "civilization".

What we have now, are only the preliminary reports presented in a seminar in 1993. These reports mostly deal with the archeological findings related with the exploration and excavations of some sites only.

Even these very preliminary reports indicated that this civilization of "Cave Cities" may be from the "Neolithic Age" and estimated to be more than 6,000 years old. Prof. Schuch further notes that the structure of the caves show clearly that they were constructed and used by men having a highly sophisticated civilization and culture. It is note-worthy that these settlement caves were not natural but created by men. Late Janak Lal Sharma, famous archeologist and writer, even wrote that these human settlements may be as old as that of Jericho of the Jordan Valley, which is supposed to be the oldest in the world. But this is yet to be confirmed.

The archeologists are now very busy producing secure results concerning the prehistoric use of these cave systems. The questions that arise are all the more wide-ranging: Who were the cave dwellers? Were they the same ethnic group that lived on the land down beneath (possibly at a latter time), or were they other migrant ethnic groups? Nothing has been handed down, either in the written or in the oral tradition..." note Prof. Dr. W. Haffner and Dr. P. Pohle. Only a mythological story, (popular in Upper Mustang) says that a demon with the head of a lion and body of a serpent had destroyed the villages of Phudzeling and Kak Nyingba and killed the people of these villages. However, the survivors found the new settlement, which is now called Kagbeni. Symbolically this story may mean that some Mongolic (Chyang and/or Hun?) tribes with the totem of a dragon, might have destroyed these villages of a different Naga-Kirati, Shaka or Yakshya tribe. The German experts have guessed the causes of abandonment of such cave settlements as natural hazards (like earthquake or flooding of river Kali Gandaki due to bursting of some unknown glacial lake), epidemics and conflict for land ownership. Yet another strong reason for frequent armed conflict might have been for the control of the very important trade route (of Northern India-Lumbini-Muktinath-Tibet) which seems to be in use from late "Neolithic" or early "Bronze Age". Later on, in the "Historical Age" (after Lord Buddha so far, in case of Nepal), this famous "Salt Road" of mule and yak trains, had also become very important for Buddhist monks and Hindu pilgrims from India, Nepal, Tibet and China. There are also legends connecting Muktinath with Manasarovara and Mt. Kailash and visit of famous saint Padmasambhava.

One of the most important early findings in this project was the cave burials located on the left bank of Kali Gandaki opposite the village of Tukuche in Southern Mustang.

This burial cave system was found accidentally, but so far the residential caves or trace of ancient open-air settlements in the nearby areas are not found. Unfortunately the broken remains of the skeletons cannot reveal the age, sex and race. [The 20 skulls found in similar caves in Leh (Laddakh) were dolichocephalic (long headed), which suggests that probably these people belonged to Indo-European or Indo-Iranian Aryan or Naga Kiratas (from Turani stock?) or Shaka or Darada-Khasa sub-race.] Among the handmade potteries found, the joined potteries are very unique and similar to such pots found in Southwark and spouted vessels were similar to those found in Daimabed, Gilund and Chirand etc. Tin-copper plates found here were probably used by hunters or warriors. The radiocarbon dates of the remains of the birch bark vessel is found to be 2575 + 19 years B.P. (Before Present). This definitely confirms that civilization of South Mustang is also prehistoric. The stone arrowheads found here, even suggest that this civilization may be much older. The antiquities found here, also strongly suggest that these people of ancient Tukuche, had connections not only with Tibet, but also with Central Asia and Indian subcontinent in various time periods.

Even now, Nepali Archeologists like Mr.Tara Nanda Mishra, Sukra Sagar Shrestha and Chandra Prasad Tripathi are trying to solve several archeological puzzles and to identify the original dwellers of these cave settlements with a view to construct the history of these people, their environment, their culture, their kingdoms, their aspirations and their victory and defeat. But as of now, very little is known and ancient Mustang lies behind a very thick mist of time. However, the research papers presented by Mr. Tara Nanda Mishra in 1993 seems to be addressed in the right direction.

By 1993, the German and Nepalese archeologists and scientists had unearthed more stone arrowheads, copper and bronze anthropomorphic figure like objects, wooden spoons, musk deer teeth (for necklaces), human bones, hand made grey wares, pottery of red and buff colours and twin joined vases having inter connection holes and various other antiquities along with iron objects and spinning whorl made of antler deer from several sites of Northern Mustang. The other important findings were the watchtowers in the Northern Mustang, unburned mud bricks of various sizes, used for partition and support walls within the caves and pot shreds found in open air mounds, of types similar to the pots of Lichhavi Period found in Handigaun in Kathmandu Valley. Carbon dating tests of most of these antiquities revealed that most of them were as old as 2,500 to 4,000 years B.P. But distinctly the stone weapons indicate that some people were living in some of the older caves, even in "Neolithic Age". However, "...the type of developed caves supported with rock-cut and structural constructions, mud brick storage bins, displaying sufficient amount of grains they produced and sophisticated antiquities along with very small number of lithic (stone) tools, prove that the earliest or the first settlers of Mustang caves belong to some advanced stage (or last phase) of "Neolithic Period...". It seems that the "Neolithic" society of these earliest settlers was changing over to more advanced "Megalithic" culture as in case of similar Gubkral culture of Kashmir. The preliminary findings indicate that Early Mustang Culture was very much similar to the culture of cave cities of Laddhak and Guge-Purang of Mt. Kailash-Manasarovara Area of South Western Tibet. At the latter stage, contacts with North Indian and Lichhavi culture of Nepal is also evident.

Much research is needed to identify the race or the sub-race of the first and other early settlers and the route and area of their migrations. But as of now, these archeological findings vaguely indicate that they might have migrated from Srinagar-Leh valleys to Manasarovara-Mt. Kailash area and then to Northern-Mustang travelling through easy plateaus of Southern Tibet. It is also possible that some of them might even had moved to Sikkim, Bhutan and Assam (without entering Nepal). Who were they? Were they Aryans or Shakas? Daradas of Kashmir or Khasas? Or were they Kham Mangars migrated from Siberia to Tibet and than to Mustang and ultimately to Dolpa, Rukum and Rolpa? Or were they Naga (Kiratas) from Turan Steppes? Or, were they indigenous people and ancestors of Kirat-Kinnars (evolved right here in the Himalayan Valleys)? Meanwhile, the Department of Archeology is expected, at least, to publish an interim report of the findings from the Prehistoric Kingdom of Mustang, the civilization of which, may turn out to be at least as old as that of Egypt and Sumer.

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