Preface -- PART ONE: ARCHAEOLOGY AND ART -- MARK ALDENDERFER-Defining Zhang zhung Ethnicity: an Archaeological Perspective from Far Western Tibet -- HUO WEI-Newly Discovered Early Buddhist Grottos in Western Tibet -- GERARD KOZICZ-The Architecture of the Empty Shells of Nyar ma -- MARIALAURA DI MATTIA-The Divine Palaces of the Buddha: Architectural Frames in Western Himalayan Art -- PART TWO: LITERATURE -- GIACOMELLA OROFINO-From Archaeological Discovery to Text Analysis: the Khor chags Monastery Findings and the Mañjusrïnämasamgïti Fragment -- AMY HELLER-Preliminary Remarks on the Manuscripts of Gnas gsar dgon pa in Northern Dolpo (Nepal) -- ELENA DE ROSSI FILIBECK-Poetical Prefaces of Manuscripts from Western Tibet -- PART THREE: HISTORY -- ERBERTO LO BUE-The Gu ru lha khang at Phyi dbang: a Mid-15th Century Temple in Central Ladakh -- GESHE WANGYAL-Remarks on the Foundation and History of Bsam gling dgon pa -- MARIETTA KIND-'Jag 'dul-a Bon Mountain Pilgrimage in Dolpo, Nepal -- CHRISTIAN JAHODA-Socio-Economic Organisation of Village Communities and Monasteries in Spiti, H.P., India: the Case of a Religious Administrative Unit (Chos gzhis).