MAS.610

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A military fort built by the Tibetans during their occupation of this region in the mid-8th century. They stayed for about a century before the collapse of the First Tibetan Empire. The fort has four sides of unequal length, with thick walls and bastions on all four corners. The longest sides are about 240 feet. Excavations of the soldiers' quarters and other rooms inside the fort revealed hundreds of woodslips concerning military administration, along with other discarded objects such as broken weapons and armour.

Excavation history : First visited briefly by Stein on December 8, 1906, during his second expedition. A trial excavation of the fort (site number M.I.) uncovered eight rooms and over a hundred Tibetan woodslips. Stein returned on January 22, 1907, and carried out a thorough excavation of the fort, uncovering 44 rooms (site numbers M.I.i - M.I.xliv) discovering many more Tibetan woodslips, as well as other miscellaneous objects. He excavated other sites in the area, mainly to the north and west of the fort (site numbers M.II - M.X), including several temples containing well-preserved Buddhist frescoes and stucco images. On his third expedition, Stein returned to Miran on January 16, 1914, excavating other sites in the area (site numbers M.XI - M.XV), which were ruins of stupas and towers. The objects found in these included more stucco images and wooden carved objects.

Short description : A military fort dating from the Tibetan period.