Department of History, Government Degree College, Nubra, conducted a one-day field visit to pre-historic petroglyphs sites at Murgi Tokpo, and heritage sites such as Ensa Monastery and Tirith Buddhist Rock Carving on July 24.

The first visit was the petroglyphs sites at Murgi, where Assistant Professor, History Department Dr. Padma Lhamo, briefed about different pre historic sites of Ladakh and spoke about the significance of Murgi Tokpo in reconstructing the pre-historic culture of Ladakh.

The site comprises of three distinct types of motifs such as zoomorphic (ibex, blue sheep, yak, bactrian camel etc), anthropomorphic (hunting scenes, riders etc) and nonfigurative motifs (mask, group of dots, swastika sign etc).

Second visit was the Ensa Monastery, where students were apprised about the rich religious and cultural history of Ensa. The students witnessed the recently discovered wall mural which according to recent study can be dated back to early medieval period i.e., late 8th and early 9th century, thus, likely tracing it earlier then Alchi heritage site.

The third visit was the Hargam Masjid, which in the past served as the place of worship to all the Muslim pilgrims and traders of central Asia.

At last, the students and faculties made a visit to the Buddhist rock carving at Tirith.

The visit was a day long trip which helps students as well as escort faculties to learn the significance of archeological sources in reconstructing the cultural, religious and social activities of the past and students also learned about the importance of trans-Karakoram trade passed via Siachen valley till 1950’s.