Carvings of archaic stupas and related monuments are also known in upper Tibet, as well as in Ladakh and Indus Kohistan. In one fairly well represented style the graduated five-tiered base of the monument is surmounted by a bulbous top without a spire or other crowning embellishments. This type of design could well have originated in the pre-Buddhist period and none of this genre appears to post date the early Buddhist period.

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