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Shri Ashtapad Maha Tirth - II
on in the right direction, I would like to suggest the following approach to be followed in further searches to establish the Ashtapad Site, scientifically and date the event. Once the Archaeological site of Ashtapad is narrowed down either to the vicinity of the Gyangdrag Monastery and three Sites of IRS images southwest of Kailash or to the site No-10 &/or 11, we should work out an exploration/excavation program with the help of various Agencies and scientists from China, in order to collect proper samples under the guidance of experts for dating. Accelerator Mass Spectrometric dating of cosmogenic nuclides, such as C-14 and Be-10 would be the most dependable dating techniques. The C-14 samples of carbonaceous/vegetable matter buried at the Site, such as stored food grains, human excreta, wood pieces, human bones etc. would be of significance. In case we find some human or animal bones, we should be careful in proper documentation and sample collection. The cut stone blocks used for the buildings can also be of help to date the events by Be-10 exposure dating technique. Two Be-10 exposure dates available from KMY area of the naturally eroded surfaces i.e. 57,000 years exposure age of a granite sample from 4,700 Meters height and 12,000 years of a granite sample from 4,500 Meters height closer to Indus River (Nishizumi et. al., 1993) encourages us to undertake detailed sampling of naturally exposed rock surfaces around KMY area by erosion and other natural processes.
References
Jarrige, J.F. and Meadow, R.H., (1980). The antecedents of Civilization in the Indus valley. Scientific American, 243, 102-110. Otta, S.B., (1992). Ladakh Evidence of Stone Age Culture. Himalaya Today 111 (34): 48-51. Otta, S.B., (1992). Evidence of Trans human from Ladakh Himalayas Jammu & Kashmir, India Advances in Indian Archaeology, Vol-1 (R.K. Ganju & S.B. Otta, Eds.) pp. 79-95. Nagpur, Dattasons. Sharma, K. K., Rajagopalan, G. and Choubey, V. M. (1989). Radiocarbon Dating of Charcoal from Pre-Indus Civilization Fire Place, Indus valley, Ladakh. Curr. Sci., 58(6), 306-308. Sharma, K. K. (1991). Geology and Geodynamic Evolution of the Himalayan Collision Zone (Part 1). Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, (Pergamon Press, U.K.), 17 (2), 1-194. Sharma, K. K. (1991a). Geology and Geodynamic Evolution of the Himalayan Collision Zone (Part 2). Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, (Pergamon Press, U.K.), 18 (1&2), 195-446. A multi-colored geological map of the Himalayan Collision Zone, printed by the Survey of India (1994) on 1:3,500,000 scale. Sharma, K.K. (1995). Quaternary stratigraphy and prehistory of the upper Indus valley, Ladakh. Mem. Geol. Soc. India, 32, 98-108. Nishizumi, K., Kohl, C. P., Arnold, J.R., Dorn, R., Klein, J., Fimk, D., Middleton, R and Lal, D., Role of in-situ cosmogenic nuclides 10 Be and 26Al in the study of diverse geomorphic processes, Earth Surface Processes, and Landforms. 18, 407-425, 1993.
Geological perspective at Kailash
