@article{74276c2786294f36a7a4bb8c72403763,
title = "Dendrochronological analysis of the ancient architecture of Kingdom of Lo. Upper Mustang, Nepal",
abstract = "Upper Mustang is a land of extraordinary, precious, tangible and intangible cultural heritage deeply rooted in the Tibetan culture and tradition of Buddhism as well as the B{\"o}n religion. The unique architecture provides a great source of timber suitable for dendrochronological research. Century-old fortresses, palaces, Buddhist monasteries and temples, houses and ch{\"o}rtens reflect the great importance of wood as a building material (used alongside clay and stone). We present pioneering research on historical wood from Upper Mustang. The objectives of the study were to determine the wood species used in the traditional architecture of the region, to make an attempt to date materials from Upper Mustang using existing tree-ring chronologies developed for neighbouring geographical regions and to determine the need and the chance of creating separate tree-ring chronologies for Upper Mustang. For the presented study we collected 191 samples from the oldest buildings preserved in Upper Mustang. Anatomical studies of samples resulted in the identification of four species of conifer wood: Himalayan pine – Pinus wallichiana A.B. Jacks, Himalayan fir – Abies spectabilis D.Don, Juniperus spp. and Larix spp. The main achievement of our research was the development of an Upper Mustang master chronology covering the period from 1317 to 1943. The chronology is based on data derived from Pinus wallichiana A.B. Jacks.",
keywords = "Buddhist architecture, Kingdom of Lo, Pinuswallichiana A.B. Jacks, Upper Mustang, dendroarchaeology, master chronology",
author = "Barbara Gmi{\'n}ska-Nowak and Tomasz Wa{\.z}ny",
note = "Funding Information: The presented research on historical wood from Upper Mustang are the results of a PhD project run by Barbara Gmi{\'n}ska-Nowak: “Wood in the architecture and the art of Upper Mustang/Nepal. Dendrochronological research and conservation problems”, funded by the National Science Centre (POLAND), grant number DEC-2013/11/N/HS3/04912. The research was accomplished thanks to the cooperation with the Department of Archaeology, Kathmandu (Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation). We would like to express our sincere thanks to Dr Mark S. Aldenderfer (University of California, Merced; Sky Door Foundation) who supported our collaboration with the Department of Archeology with his recommendation. We would like to thank Mr Mohan Singh Lama – DOA Research Officer for his great help and support during the fieldwork. Since one of the main condition for the successful completion of the Project was the approval of the local authorities, we would like to express our sincere thanks to Prince Jigme Palbar Bista for his permission to collect samples from the palaces of Upper Mustang and to Kenpo Kunga Tenzin, for his permission to collect samples form the monasteries of Lo Mathang. We would like to thank Mr Luigi Fieni, art conservator (American Himalayan Foundation) for access to historical timbers removed from the original structures during conservation work. We are particularly grateful to Dr Karl-Uwe Heussner (Deutsches Arch{\"a}ologisches Institut) for help with analysis and interpretation of data, and the chance to compare our results with data elaborated from his materials. Funding Information: The presented research on historical wood from Upper Mustang are the results of a PhD project run by Barbara Gmi{\'n}ska-Nowak: “Wood in the architecture and the art of Upper Mustang/Nepal. Dendrochronological research and conservation problems”, funded by the National Science Centre (POLAND) , grant number DEC-2013/11/N/HS3/04912 . Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 Elsevier GmbH",
year = "2020",
month = jun,
doi = "10.1016/j.dendro.2020.125701",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "61",
journal = "Dendrochronologia",
issn = "1125-7865",
publisher = "Elsevier GmbH",
}