Professor Georg Morgenstierne (1892 - 1978) was professor of Indo-Iranian languages at the University of Oslo, Norway (UiO). The National Library of Norway, Oslo dept. and the Institute of East-European and Oriental languages at the UiO have collaborated in creating a multimedia database containing source materials originating from Morgenstierne’s studytours to Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Iran. The archive is comprised primarily of photographs, though sound recordings, moving images and a handwritten fieldbook are also included. Amongst the scientific material there are silent movies from pre-Islamic ritual dances, sound recordings from almost extinct languages, and a large amount of photos from his travels during the years 1923 to 1971. Even today the Kalash minority’s way of living in Pakistan is a unique ethnographic phenomenon since they are the only people of Indo-european origin that still have kept their ancient culture from pre-Islamic times. Morgenstierne’s pioneer contribution in Afghanistan was remarkable, and still raises international interest. The multimedia database consists largely of original sources published here for the first time. (You need to install a free version of QuickTime from Apple before you can open video and audio files)       This web-site was created by The National Library of Norway, 2001