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Myanmar Times ARCHAEOLOGISTS have discovered evidence of the ceremonial burial of uncremated remains near a Pinya era pagoda in Kyaukse township, Mandalay Region, a previously unrecorded practice that could predate the Pyu era, the archaeologist leading the dig said. 
The bones were uncovered in early July at an excavation site on a small hill northeast of Tamote Shwegugyi Pagoda, located in the ancient town of Tamote, at a depth of about 1.8 metres (6 feet), said Tampawaddy U Win Maung, a Mandalay-based archaeologist who organised the private dig.The bones were placed in holes about 23 centimetres (9 inches) in diameter, compressed under a layer of bricks and covered in earth. He said 10 holes containing remains had been discovered at the small hill near Tamote Shwegugyi Pagoda, which dates to the Pinya period (1312-1364AD) that immediately followed the fall of the Bagan kingdom. "We have not excavated all the holes yet and it's possible we will find more. We also found a bone that might not be human," he said. "We can't dig as easily as we would like because of the layer of bricks covering the bones." The burials contrast with the Pyu custom of cremating the body and putting the remains in an urn. Earlier this year, some Pyu-era burial urns dated to the eighth and ninth centuries were also excavated at the site. Tampawaddy U Win Maung said he believed the remains pre-date the Pyu era, which started as early as the third century BC and flourished from the fourth to ninth centuries AD, preceding the Bagan kingdom. "Previously, we only knew of the practice of burying an urn containing bones and ashes but in this instance they have not used an urn," he said. "I have never seen this before and I have never seen it recorded at archaeological sites such as Beikthano, Halingyi, Sriksetra and Mongmao. This seems to be earlier than the custom of a burial urn." He said a Carbon-14 dating test would be required to pinpoint when the bones were buried. "Dating cannot be done here, they need to be sent abroad. If foreign experts offered to help us we could get an exact date. We plan to invite foreign researchers to view them to generate some interest." He said the find meant excavators of Pyu-era sites should be more careful when digging in the future. "They'll need to take more care because we can see that burial grounds may not only contain burial urns but evidence of other practices as well."
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