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| Looking up at Mt Qomolangma from Rongbu Temple. | About 10,000 years ago there were human footprints on the Tibetan Plateau. According to the archaeological survey all kinds of stone artifacts, bone implements and pottery ranging from the Old Stone Age to the New Stone Age were excavated. which has proven that the Tibetan people had entered the New Stone Age about 4,000 years ago. The Tibetan vernacular dwellings also saw a history of distant source and long stream. As early as 4,000-5,000 years ago, cave dwellings or semi-cave dwellings or primitive village appeared in Tibet. The excavation of the ruins of Karuo primitive village in Changdu in 1975 has revealed the living conditions of the Tibetan ancestors.
Nationalities including Tibetans, Monbas, Lhobas, Hans and Huis have lived on Tibet Plateau generation alter generation among which Tibetans accounted for 94.7%. The Monba nationality is one of the minority nationalities living on Tibet Plateau since the ancient times. Her name was derived from their living place of Menyu Area. The elevation of the Menyu Area is decreased from 4.000 odd meters to 1.000 odd meters. In the 17'h century, some of the Monba living in the Menyu area immigrated eastward to Baimagang (now Medog County). From then on the inhabited region of the Monba nationality was composed of the eastern and western areas where two different styles of Tibetan vernacular dwellings were engendered.
The Lhoba nationality composed of more than 30 tribes are mainly living in the south of the big turn of Yarlung Zangbo River. This area is called Luoyu geographically. In the myths of the Lhoba people, their ancestors ever lived on trees or in the cave dwellings. Before the democratic reform in 1959 the Lhobas still lived in a patriarchal stage of the primitive society. They lived together in line with blood lineages of their tribe or family, which also caused a great impact on the distinct vernacular dwellings.
The distinct cultures of Tibetans, Monbas and Lhobas fall into the same cultural category because they believed that they were all descendants of the divine monkey and the rock demon in accordance with the mystic tales. The three cultures are the integral parts of the culture of the snow land. Similar cultural backgrounds and mutual communications among them had cultivated the same orientation of their dwellings tallying with the local condition such as climate and topographies and in line with their religious beliefs and cultural habits. |
