A trove of ancient bones and bricks that was revealed when the bank of the Samone River collapsed in Wundwin Township, Mandalay Region, is now thought to be several centuries less ancient than originally suspected.
When the bones and bricks were first discovered in November, a local expert proclaimed them remnants of the Pyu period, which historians consider the first chapter of civilization in the area that is now Myanmar. The expert dated the items to between the 1st and 5th centuries AD.
However, when officials from the Department of Archaeology examined the items the following month, they said they were actually several centuries more recent.
“When we went to check, we found arch bricks that were used for building the top of a pagoda. The size of the arch brick and the foundation brick are not the same size as bricks from the Pyu era,” an archaeology department official told the Global New Light of Myanmar.
The bricks are each a foot long and eight inches wide. The faces of the bricks are rectangular and triangular.
“Most of the bricks we found resemble those used in the Inwa and early Konebaung eras. That’s why we think that it might be a religious building from Inwa era or Konebaung era,” the official added.
This period may refer to the time when Inwa was the capital of Burma under several consecutive dynasties between 1365 and 1842.
The new theory was supported by at least on local villager, who told the Global New Light: “The area where the rows of brick were exposed is an area where Ywar Haung Gone village once existed, and a pagoda south of the river was toppled and destroyed in the past.”
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