Pete Athans scrambled up a steep boulder. Now he was dangling from his climbing harness 6 meters off the ground. Buried in the stone in front of him was something interesting. With gloved hands, he gently


chipped away at the rock. As the rock crumbled, he made a shocking discovery. It was a human skull.


A Curious Find Athans is a mountaineer. He’s also the leader of a team of archaeologists. Te team had come to this faraway part of Nepal, in South Asia. Tey’re hoping to solve one of the world’s great archaeological mysteries. Te rock Athans scaled sat directly


below a steep cliff. Toward the top of the cliff were small caves. Tese caves had been dug into the rock by people long ago. Te skull belonged to a young man who had lived here.


12 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER


Cliff Caves of the Dead In this dusty, windy place, there may be as many as 10,000 caves. Many are thousands of years old. Each cave was made by humans. Some caves sit by themselves. Each is a single, open mouth on a large cliff face. Others are in groups, sometimes stacked eight or nine stories high. Some caves were dug directly into


the cliff face. Others were tunneled from above. No one knows who dug them. Or why. Or even how people climbed into them. Did they use ropes? Had they carved steps in the cliff face? Any evidence has gone. Seven hundred years ago, this


place was a busy city. It was on an important trade route for salt. Salt was one of the world’s most valuable items. Yet over time, salt was traded elsewhere. Tis place was abandoned and forgotten.


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