Beyond the Gorges of the Indus: Archaeology before Excavation.

• Author: de la Vaissiere, Etienne
• Position: Book Review

Beyond the Gorges of the Indus: Archaeology before Excavation. By KARL JETTMAR, edited by Ellen Kattner. Karachi: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2002. Pp. xix + 248, plates.

In this volume, Karl Jettmar, one of the main explorers and historians of the Gilgit area, has collected nine of his articles on the history and ethnology of Northern Pakistan, with slight revision, and added one new text. The focus is on the links to be made between the data of the High Middle Ages concerning mainly the kingdom of the Patola Shahis (descriptions from the Chinese pilgrims or Biruni, inscriptions or manuscripts found by the author and others) and the present ethnic and linguistic situation (Balti, Burushaki, Shina, etc.). As a whole, this volume, although devoid of new discoveries or really new analysis, is useful not only because the articles collected in it are sometimes difficult to find or formerly written in German, but also because the choice of articles constitutes a fairly good introduction to the area and its historical background for students, with some pieces presenting the history of exploration in the Gilgit area, some the traditional way of life, some the main discoveries, and some the most contemporary issues of historical research. These articles share a general index and are illustrated with drawings and color plates. The bibliography is complete up to the beginning of the nineties, with a few late references. One map is included, but too small to be readable, so that many places mentioned cannot be found on it.

The introduction of the book is devoted to a short presentation of the author's own life and researches within the frame of the history of exploration in this region. The first three chapters are ethnographic and describe the everyday life in the mountainous valleys of the Upper Indus ("Early Expeditions in North Pakistan [1955, 1958]," published in 1960 under the title "The Cultural History of North-west Pakistan"; "The Northern Areas of...