The Tibetan chorten (stupa), a reliquary, contains no reference to the date or place of its origin or to the person whose remains are enclosed. The metal chorten described in great detail is of particular interest because it contained barley seeds which, by ₁₄C analysis, were dated 1230 ± 65 A.D. Besides discussing the contents of the chorten (several drawings and manuscripts, minerals and gems, and textiles -- analyzed in terms of fiber and weave, and a piece of animal hide) and providing a spectrographic analysis of its metal (brass with a high zinc content and almost a total absence of tin), the paper traces the architectural and religious evolution of the chorten from an earthen mound to a diversity of vertical structures, and lists publishedexamples of metal chorten, dividing them into two stylistic groups. -- AATA