Conclusion
The
remains of monument B3 uncovered at Batpalathang site represent a long
forgotten past that tells us an incomplete story. It is the story of a
community of people which were tightly bound: they were sharing
established and long lasting religious beliefs, they showed very
constructive social behaviors favoring the memory of ancestors and
preserving their environment and culture for the future generations, and
of course they mastered numerous and varied technical skills. Overall,
the picture rendered by the builders of monument B3 is one showing a
very strong cultural involvement at the local and regional levels.
Everyone
who had the chance to live a while among the Bhutanese people of the
Choskhor valley in recent past shall see that most, if not all, of those
features are still living among them. Of course, numerous dynamic
processes, encouraged by the actual modernization, are fashioning the
society of Central Bhutan. But not unlike in the midst of the 16th
century A.D., present day people of the Choskhor valley follow their
daily subsistence activities, build large monuments for special
occasions, follow their secular religious beliefs, and repeat
traditional actions, and finally prepare their country for the near
future with the assistance of a well balanced political leadership.
The
story of monument B3, which we tried to unravel to the largest extent
possible, can now enter into the intimate historical record of the
community of the Choskhor valley. For us, archaeologists, the story we
tried to tell should now help enhancing the sense of historical
continuity among the local community in which the investigation took
place. We hope that our contribution will be used for this sake.
Our
responsibility was to preserve the most of this story for future
generations. Ideally, it should be further developed through more
scientific researches and studies, as well historical and
archaeological. Threats for cultural heritage sites are usually
appearing very fast, generally much faster than the time necessary to
acquire the necessary means to resolve them through archaeological
salvage actions. The Kingdom of Bhutan has momentarily the great chance:
the pace of its modernization process has not yet reached the extreme
velocity it already has in Western Europe and North America. Hopefully,
Bhutan will soon set up its own archaeological survey to investigate
appearing endangered sites… the sooner the better!
