Abstract
By today, archaeological insight into the cultural history of the Kingdom of Bhutan in the eastern Himalayas is still lacking. In the course of the ongoing Bhutan-Swiss collaboration project in order to institutionalize archaeology, not only highly important sites were detected but also the exigency of archaeological regulations and site protection becomes evident.
On the basis of interviews with local informants, the authors conducted field surveys and documented the cultural landscape in the mythical core area of the Tang valley in central Bhutan. The general picture composed of collected data seems to illustrate a mythical or Buddhist-historical meaning of manifold historical and prehistoric sites which is generally accepted and venerated by the local society.
Nowadays however, Bhutan faces enormous cultural changes, mainly caused by rapidly increasing tourism influx and information technology. As a consequence, mythical-religious beliefs, which have protected archaeological sites from looting, are weakening to a certain extent. This danger of cultural heritage loss becomes evident by a looted chorten on top of a prehistoric burial mound. The discovery of large burial mounds in the Phobjikha Valley illustrates the importance of immediate archaeological regulations and site protection and furthermore shows the tremendous scientific potential of archaeology in Bhutan.
Fux, Peter