Archaeology and the Tibetan/Himalayan Afterlife – Mark Aldenderfer

Virtual Lecture

Although historians and Tibetologists since the early 20th C have collected and interpreted religious documents describing in general terms rituals of death and safe passage to the afterlife among the early peoples of the Himalayas, the archaeological record offered little insight into them. But recent research by archaeologists across the region have made extraordinary discoveries that both challenge and corroborate current understandings as well as identifying previously unknown traditions for both commoners and kings.

Mark Aldenderfer

Aldenderfer joined the UC Merced campus in 2010, becoming dean of the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts. He is best known for his comparative interdisciplinary studies of high-elevation adaptation from an archaeological perspective.

His many achievements also include recent archaeological research in Tibet and Nepal and serving as editor of Current Anthropology, one of the field’s most prestigious academic journals. A native of Ohio, Aldenderfer was a faculty member at the University of Arizona and UC Santa Barbara before UC Merced.

Aldenderfer was one of UC Merced’s first two professors to be named a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur chair.

Aldenderfer, who officially departed UC Merced on July 1, is transitioning his life and work to Santa Fe, N.M., where he will continue his lifelong exploration of how the ancient past continues to shape the world’s future.