Decoding unwritten past

Although Tubo stood out as being exceptional in the early documented history of the region, Huo, the Sichuan University professor, stressed that a much longer "unwritten" past existed before these flourishing times.

"Archaeology is writing that part of history that no one has done before," he said.

In the past two years, rich archaeological discoveries have been made across Tibet, shedding light on its prehistoric period and much earlier links with the rest of China than originally thought.

In Ngari prefecture, in the west of the autonomous region, more than 5,000 relics, including numerous stone items, were unearthed in 2020 at the Jerak site, dating back 8,000 to 10,000 years and indicating two separate periods of human settlement. No archaeological evidence from this time had previously been found in the hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Despite the discovered stone tools being small－some broken pieces are only a few millimeters thick－for archaeologists such as Gao Xing they are key indicators of human migration.

Gao, a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said: "They show close links with findings in North China, and may offer crucial information for studying the origins of Tibetan people. They echo some findings from genetic studies."

The evolving styles of the stone tools also show how residents on the plateau adapted to the environment in this high-altitude area in ancient times, Gao said.

Meanwhile, Shargan Wangdue and other archaeologists excavated 10 tombs in Tibet in 2020 and last year, along with the 4,000-year-old Mabutso Lake site in Khangmar county, Shigatse, to the south of Lhasa.

Some pottery from the tombs is made in the same style as counterparts found in the Hengduan Mountains in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, nearly 2,000 kilometers away.

At the Gadpaserul site in Ngari, a graveyard dating back 3,000 to 3,600 years is evidence of an economy reliant on herding and hunting and also indicates close connections with similar graves in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Song Xinchao, deputy director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, said during the online conference: "Now we need to view archaeological findings in Tibet from a much wider perspective and evaluate them in comprehensive studies involving other regions. This is not only about neighboring provinces, but goes beyond national borders. The significance of this should be viewed in the context of the whole of Asia."

He added that archaeology can greatly contribute to interdisciplinary research on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, together with environmental sciences, geology and anthropology, among others.

Lasting effort

Countless relics await discovery, but locating them is far from easy. The weather and the plateau's rugged landscape can be harsh on archaeologists, while lack of personnel is another significant challenge.

Shargan Wangdue said there are only 10 full-time archaeologists and nine cultural relic conservators at his institute. As Tibet has a land area of about 1.2 million square km, everyone has a full working schedule.

The archaeologists' basic research tools and other equipment are no different to those used by teams elsewhere in China, but the natural conditions make their work tougher.

"When we're doing research in the wild, we sometimes get up at 4:30 am to drive from one heritage site to the next, because of the distance involved," Shargan Wangdue said. "If we're lucky, there will be a place where we can eat on the way, but often we have all our meals in the car."

For the archaeologists working in Tibet, car repair skills are also useful.

Shargan Wangdue said: "All the difficulties are just routine for archaeologists, as we have such an important job. It's also great to see more and more national-level archaeological teams joining us."

He and his colleagues are not working alone. National-level institutions, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the National Centre for Archaeology, have drafted a long list of archaeological programs involving Tibet.

Some provincial-level institutions with leading expertise have also lent a helping hand. For example, the Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology has been devoted to Tibetan studies since 1985.

According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, 42 archaeological research or excavation programs involving institutes from the rest of the country were launched in Tibet during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20). A total of 34.4 million yuan ($5.4 million) was spent by these institutes to support their research.

All the major excavations in the past two years were jointly carried out by the Cultural Relics Conservation Institute of Tibet Autonomous Region and leading universities and research institutes nationwide.

In 2020, a new long-term national-level guideline for archaeology in Tibet from 2021 to 2035 was released by the National Cultural Heritage Administration, calling for better-equipped hi-tech laboratories and warehouses for relics unearthed in the region.

More important, an increased number of local archaeologists will be nurtured, benefiting from promising plans for the future.

According to the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), released by the State Council in November, the number of archaeologists in China is expected to rise from about 6,000 at the end of 2020 to 10,000 by 2025.

Shargan Wangdue sees this as an opportunity to recruit more new blood to his team.

"At the moment, when a major project is announced, we may have to call in all 10 archaeologists in our team, and we barely have time to assign each one to a specific field. But if more people arrive, we can use their expertise for different historical periods," he said.

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