The 2013 campaign made it possible to establish a chronological sequence for the selected sites. It is remarkable that the sites of Murgi, Tirisa and Deskit all show long cultural sequences. Until the 2013 campaign, only petroglyphs provided evidence of a protohistoric presence: the extended survey operations, including geophysics, have revealed prehistoric, protohistoric and historic occupations in the vicinity of open-air rock art sites.

Among the contributions made by the 2013 mission, the Tirisa lithic site is certainly one of the most important. For the time being, this site is the only solid evidence of the presence and settlement, certainly temporary, of humans at an altitude of over 3,000 m in the region. This imposing open-air site may have served as a refuge area due to its geomorphological configuration (a depression sheltering a lake) and the presence of andesite suitable for cutting probably justified the choice of the site by prehistoric populations.

Sketchbook 1

Annual Activity Report 1

The study of ceramic material is another major contribution of the MAFIL. In two campaigns (2013 and 2014), ceramic material from the Nubra, comprising 1,012 so-called diagnostic sherds from 28 sites, was studied. The techno-stylistic characterisation data, together with a typological classification, will be published in the form of a catalogue. 

This will also include an inter-regional comparative analysis and the results of petrographic analyses carried out on around a hundred sherds. This publication will constitute a reference study for the rest of Ladakh and, more broadly, for the Western Himalayas.

In 2014, a study of the surface material at the Deskit site made it possible to establish a periodisation of the remains, namely: protohistoric burials, post-Kushan occupation (4^th-8^th centuries AD) and late historic occupation (14^th-15^th centuries). The location and surface typology of the graves and their proximity to engravings executed in the animal style suggest that they are linked to steppe cultures of the Bronze Age and/or Iron Age. Finally, the identification of sherds with similarities to ceramics discovered at Barikot (Swāt, Pakistan) or in eastern Bactria and dated between the end of the Kushan period, the post-Kushan period and the end of the Early Middle Ages, i.e. between the 4^th and 8^th centuries AD, has made it possible, for the first time and for the whole of Ladakh, to propose a 1^st millennium date for an archaeological site. 

Such a dating was confirmed by the results of C14 analyses obtained in 2015 for two samples taken from the ruined stūpa of Tirisa (calibrated ages: 425-579 AD and 695-937 AD). The historical significance of these results extends beyond the Nubra. In fact, the Tirisa dates are the first absolute dates for a Buddhist monument in Ladakh and make it possible for the first time, and in an irrefutable manner, to affirm that Buddhism was present in Ladakh from the middle of the 1^st millennium.

Sketchbook 2

Annual Activity Report 2

For the third campaign (2015), the mission worked on the Buddhist site of Choskor, located to the north of the Leh oasis, at the foot of the pass leading to the Nubra. The ruins of temples and stūpas indicate that this was an important religious site at the turn of the 2^nd millennium. This site is exceptional for Ladakh in that, amidst the Buddhist remains, there are still numerous traces of settlement and development (irrigation channels, for example), with almost 140 structures documented and mapped. During this third campaign, a systematic collection of ceramics was carried out on the site and a test pit was opened in one of the temples, uncovering fragments of painted clay statuary.

Sketchbook 3

Annual Activity Report 3

During the last campaign (2016), excavations were carried out at the Choskor site. A Buddhist temple built of unbaked clay revealed numerous fragments of painted clay sculptures, wall paintings and votive objects (made of clay, metal, stone and ceramics). The architectural remains excavated (pillar bases, central platform) provide a better understanding of the temple’s original architecture. All these elements, in comparison with known sites elsewhere in the western Himalayas, allow us to place the temple in the 10^th-11^th centuries AD. Several samples were submitted for dating. A dry-stone building whose monumental dimensions (walls and entrance) raised questions about its possible use as a dwelling. A third excavated location concerned a buried masonry structure whose function (funerary, storage or hiding place) could not be determined. At the end of the 2016 campaign, we are unable to say whether all the structures excavated on the Choskor site are contemporary with each other or whether the site was occupied successively.

For these reasons, it was decided to dedicate phase 2 of the mission (2017-2020) to the Choskor site, which has great potential.

Sketchbook 4

Annual Activity Report 4