KABUL, AFGHANISTAN—The Mainichi reports that fragments of tree bark inscribed with a Buddhist manuscript written in Sanskrit were discovered in Mes Aynak, a Buddhist settlement occupied from the third to seventh centuries A.D. Researchers from the Afghan Institute of Archaeology think the ancient manuscripts may have been housed in an archive at the site, which has also yielded a monastery complex, murals, and more than 400 Buddha statues and stupas. To read about the earliest Buddhist shrine, go to "Buddhism, in the Beginning."