ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES

Beikthano Myo Haung (Vishnu Old City)

The best known of the Pyu sites in the central zone are Beikthano, Halin and Thayekittaya (Sriksetra). Beikthano (Lat.20° 00 N and Long. 95° 23 E), a site some 12 miles northwest of Taungdwingyi in Magwe Division. The radiocarbon dates for the earliest of these, Beikthano, are cal. 180 BC-AD 260, cal. 100 BC-AD 390, cal. AD 80-540 and cal. AD 210-610. The dates indicate activity between outer limits of 180 BC and AD 610.Beikthano shows evidence of Indian religions, a bronze Buddha image, in its latest levels. Therefore certain links with Indian technology have been identified in brick sizes. Beikthano was pre-excavation made by Archaeology Department in 1904-5 and systematically excavated from 1958 to 1963 in 25 sites, during from 1996 to 1999 in 10 sites and from 2001 to 2003 in 11 sites. The excavators of Beikthano uncovered gateways to the city walls curving gradually inward at the entrance, leading to an inner citadel, monastic buildings and religious structures associated with burial urns. One of the excavators, U Aung Thaw, suggested that these, with the exception of one later eleventh-century structure (KKG-21), belonged to a period of occupation between about the first to the fifth centuries. Pyu elements included masonry structures with massive walls constructed of large bricks, often incised with numerals or deep gouges of between one and three straight, curved or diagonal lines; silver coins bearing auspicious symbols; burial urns of both plain and ornate design; and iron nails and bosses.

The monastery and stupa plans at Beikthano bear a considerable resemblance to those found at Nagarjunakonda and the Krishna valley in southeast India and at Taxila in northwest India. Buddhist statuary was found in Beikthano. This may indicate that the sects at Beikthano practiced image worship. The most significant features linking Beikthano with other sites are burial urns, large bricks with finger marks, beads if clay and semiprecious stones and coins. It appears that the urns contained secondary burial and were placed in groups in or around sepulchral structures. Dr, Janice Stargardt has remarked that the drum-shaped form of these urns recalls the Dongson bronze drums of Vietnam.

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Halin

Halin (Hanlin), (Lat. 22° 28 N and Long. 95° 49 E), lies in the Wetlet township in Shwebo district in Sagaing Division. It is situated some 10 miles 5 furlongs to the southeast of Shwebo and 6 miles to the northeast of Wetlet. Halin was explored as early as 1905 and systematically excavated from 1962 to 1967, with further excavations in the 1990s. New data came in 2001and 2004 by Bob Hudson, U Nyein Lwin, U Win Maung (Tanpawady) and U Kyaw Kyaw. The four gateways so far excavated (HL-10, 11, 18 and 21) turn inward to the citadel, like the gates at Beikthano. Earthenware funerary urns were found buried both within and outside the exposed structures, square or rectangular buildings with a quadrangular projection on one side in some instances. HL-5, 8, 12, 13 and 15 appear to be ritual structures. HL-8 contained charred bones, burial pottery and gold ornaments. There are both skeletal and cremation burials within the walls of Halin. HL-17 contained around 50 skeletons and HL-20, excavated by U Myint Aung in 1995 as a project for his archaeology students. HL-22 was a brick building with a series of large stones, or megaliths, arranged in front of it.HL-25 and 26 contained both skeletons and funerary urns.

The radiocarbon dates from charcoal samples at Halin have been recalculated since they were published by U Myint Aung. The new dates are cal. AD 540-780, cal. AD 60-390, and cal. AD 120-430. The dates indicate activity at Halin between outside limits of AD 60 and 870.

Some of the new material at Halin was found within the walls, but most came from a cluster of villages on the southern side. These villages sit among fields that ate used for salt extraction, an industry that has operated at least since the colonial period. The salt percolates into the soil from underground springs, and would presumably have been present in ancient times.

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Thayekittaya (Sriksetra)

Thayekittaya (Lat. 18° 48 N and Long. 95° 17 E), situated 5 miles east of Pyay where the present village of Hmawza. The later city of Thayekittay is thought to have attained its height of prosperity between the fifth and ninth centuries. Large stone burial urns have bee discovered in association with religious structures. Inscriptions on some of these record the deaths of members of the city’s ruling elite in AD 688, 695 and 718. A stone urn unearthed near the Payataung pagoda in March 1993, with a yet largely undeciphered inscription, repeats the names of these three people and adds a further two kings to the list. This evidence suggests a period of dynastic continuity during the late seventh and early eighth centuries.

Roughly circular in shape, Thayekittaya’s high wall of large bricks encloses an area of more than 12 square kilometers. As with the preceding sites, each gateway has rounded corners turning inwards. The northern half of the city is a low plain dominated by rice fields. Most structures are in the southern sector and outside the city wall. Three tall stupas, The Bawbawgyi, Payagyi and Pyama, are situated respectively to the south, northeast and north of the city wall. Hollow pagodas, the Bebe, Lemnyethna and the East Zegu, introduce the use of an Indian type of vaulting with bricks laid parallel to the arch face. It has been suggested that this type of vaulting was a local innovation, although slightly later shrines on Orissa use a similar technology.

Sculptures in the post-Gupta style indicate that Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism as well as Vaisnavism were followed, and links with the art of Dvaravati and Nanchao can be discerned. Other religious inscriptions such as the Maunggun gold plates use a form of a script known from the fifth century elsewhere in Myanmar, at Vesali in Rakhine and Southeast Asia, notably at Dvaravati sites in Thailand, probably indicating intercourse between the Buddhist Sangha at the time. It would appear, given the overlap in dates of the major Pyu sites, that each controlled its own sphere of influence and usually cooperated with but at times came into conflict with the others.

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