Kalistani Major History

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Discovery of ancient statue in Lhasa hints at veritable treasure trove
Archaeology as a field may be revived in Kalistan
Lhasa, Neveras
July 18, 5322


Statue of ancient idol believed to be remnant of Mu-Tze Culture, dating from around 500 CE

The digging of a cellar in downtown Lhasa this week led to a striking discovery. As the cellar was being excavated following a house fire which destroyed a house in the Old City, so that a new house could be built on the foundation, workers accidently hit a hollow spot in the ground. Rushing air suggested a cave, so work was halted at the site, and explorers were lowered into the hole. What they discovered was indeed a cave, whose entrance ended up being more than a mile away at a terminus of one of the city's ancient storm sewers. Inside the cave that was discovered however were several ancient writings, believed to be in the script of ancient invaders known as the Mu-Tze or Panmuan who occupied much of mainland Kalistan between about 425 and 700 CE. There were other striking artifacts as well inside the cave including a brilliant lapis Lazuli and 24 karat gold idol of a god.

"It would appear that we have located some shrine of the Mu Tze," said Dr. Frieda Norman, of High Bong University's Antiquities department who was called in to lead the cataloging and study into the cave location. "Given the nearness to the surface, as well as the mosaics inside the cave, part of which were destroyed in the initial excavation, I would guess that what we are dealing with here is the basement shrine of a temple which must have been built over this site but has since been long lost to memory. You can see there, those cuts into the wall served as a built in ladder to that access port there, which has been covered over by dirt and building material belonging to the house that sat over this site for a thousand years. But we do seem to be dealing with a long forgotten treasure trove which is much much older, perhaps nearly 4800 years old."

The writings, when translated, are expected to reveal details of either an ancient religious faith practiced in Kalistan, or something more mundane. "Temples are often places of worship," said Norman, "But they regularly doubled as store houses. What we have here could very possibly be records of trade and inventories of items stored in this cave at some point, or items dispersed to the people. There really is no way, at this point of knowing because sadly, archaeology is not something that is widely studied in Kalistan."

The Professor did suggest that her university was, in the light of this recent discovery, proposed that an archaeology program be started within the Department of Antiquities. "As we teach primarily historiography and archive sciences, moving to archaeology won't be much of a stretch," said Professor Norman. "It would involve recruiting anthropologists, and would involve creating some new courses, but if we train archaeologists, they can then come back and be the experts who train the next generation."

Norman did suggest that there was more to be discovered. "This may have been the first cave like shrine we have uncovered," she said. "But certainly, it is not the only one. This one doesn't appear to be particularly special in any way: There is no gilding on the walls, though the mosaics certainly had a lot of thought and craftsmanship put into it. This has more of the feel of just a place that people forgot for a long long time, and it has now been unearthed. I don't believe this is the most important thing that we can potentially find beneath our cities, nor is it likely the only thing. I suspect that now that we have made this discovery, there will be a bubbling of interest from all over the Republic and the World about what sort of artifacts Kalistan still holds which can be found and brought out to be displayed as part of our National Heritage."