Section 05
Writing
A script, and what survived on paper. Every entry is one thing altitude decided.
Writing
What survived on paper survived because the desert was dry and the room was sealed.ProTibet picture library
4 entries in this section
All twenty-four-
05.1
The Script
The writing system was devised in the seventh century under Songtsen Gampo, traditionally credited to Thonmi Sambhota, and was built for a language it fitted better then than now.
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05.2
Cave 17 at Dunhuang
A sealed chamber held tens of thousands of manuscripts, and the Tibetan among them preserves a period almost nothing else survives from.
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05.3
Old Tibetan
The language of those documents differs from the modern written form in spelling and grammar, which is how the manuscripts are dated.
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05.4
Paper and Ink
Paper made from a toxic shrub root resists insects, which is a large part of why so much survived.
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