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Excarvation at Tagaung PDF

The excavation at Tagaung revealed three walled areas that are all missing a western wall, which has been attributed to the westward movement of the Ayeyarwaddy River over time. When plotted according to a traditional nine-quadrant city plan, one excavation site from 2003-2004 falls within the northeast quadrant. Tagaung was strategically located on the Yunnan frontier and provided access to important natural resources like silver mines, as well as links to Yunnan. The site benefited from seasonal lakes and swamp lands used for crops, as well as wildlife in the surrounding areas.

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193 views5 pages

Excarvation at Tagaung PDF

The excavation at Tagaung revealed three walled areas that are all missing a western wall, which has been attributed to the westward movement of the Ayeyarwaddy River over time. When plotted according to a traditional nine-quadrant city plan, one excavation site from 2003-2004 falls within the northeast quadrant. Tagaung was strategically located on the Yunnan frontier and provided access to important natural resources like silver mines, as well as links to Yunnan. The site benefited from seasonal lakes and swamp lands used for crops, as well as wildlife in the surrounding areas.

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KoWunnaKo
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Excarvation At Tagaung

The lack of a western wall at Tagaung has been attributed to a number of factors. The most debated of
these is a westward movement of the Ayeyarwaddy in the geologically recent past from the bed of the
Old Ayeyarwaddy east of the present site to that of the Meza Chaung.41 Working within this premise,
one of the present authors has suggested that not only the location but also the layout may have
conformed to a tradition that first millennium AD walled cities associated with Pyu-speaking groups had
nine quadrants.42 There are today three walled areas at Tagaung: Wall 1 (19 hectares) around a low
hillock on the north, Wall 2 (62 hectares) known as Anya Bagan and Wall 3 (204 hectares) which
encloses the other two walls. All three, however, are missing the western wall. When the nine quadrants
are plotted to form an oval-shaped city plan, site TG31, excavated in 2003-2004, falls in the northeast
quadrant of the old city. As the finds from TG31 and Hsin Hynat to the south support our note above of
links beyond Myanmar, in this case to Yunnan, we will return to TG31 and Hsin Hynat. First, however, we
discuss Bagan and the natural resources of Tagaung that together with its location ensured continued
patronage from its founding to the present.

Tagaung and Bagan are closer to the Ayeyarwaddy than Halin, Maingmaw, Waddi or Beikthano.44 While
the west wall of both is currently the Ayeyarwaddy, each may once have been farther from the bank and
the threat of flood. At Bagan, Daw Thin Gyi concluded from aerial photographs that the west wall has
been gradually lost to the Ayeyarwaddy through erosion and flood.45 A jutting out of the river at the
village of Myit Khe (lower portion) north of Bagan also supports its gradual eastward shift. Beyond this,
however, comparison weakens, for Bagans setting may have obviated the need for fortification on the
immediate east while the ecology and location of Tagaung may have required it. The sites strategic
position on the Yunnan frontier is evident in the array of Tagaung artefacts attributed to its use by the
11th century AD Anawrahta as part of his east flank fortification.46 Ores may additionally explain
Anawrahtas interest in Tagaung, with silver continuing in use at Bagan for land and slave purchases.47
Tagaung afforded access to the silver mines of Bawdwin and Yadanatheingyi at Namtu in around Mogok.
It is also via Mogok and the Shweli and Taping (Tabein) rising in the uplands that Tagaung linked to
Yunnan via Muse and Bhamo.48 Other resources including jade, copper and iron were reachable by the
Meza and Uru watercourses to the north and northwest.49

Other watercourses are seen on the east, a critical area in our interpretation above of Tagaungs
missing
western wall. 50 One is a series of remnant streams on low-lying land east of the walled area, all
aligned east towest, linking the present and suggested past courses of the Ayeyarwaddy. Another
is the sites location on a faultrelated linear sector of the Ayeyarwaddy bounded on the west by
the Minwun Range (391m). Other elements are the prevalence of earthquakes, most recently in
2000 and 1989, and erosion and deposition along the river and feeder streams. Rainfall is also
relatively high at Tagaung, some 1176 mm per annum versus 870 mm at nearby Halin. This in
part relates to the higher elevation of Mogok whose timber, elephants and mineral resources
were shipped down to jetties at Tagaung, Hsin Hynat just south of Tagaung and Kyan Hynat 30
km further south. Sedimentation along the Ayeyarwaddy may have affected preservation of the
west wall, but also has had benefits, including gold washing.51 This practice is also seen at the
sandbars around Ton Ngeh, 10 km north of Tagaung. 52
Tagaung additionally profited from the seasonal lakes (ingyi) and swamp lands located along the
remnant streams east of the site. Each is used for particular crops, with fields varying from edible
oils to rice and coriander. Winter rice or mayin is grown on the edges of shallow pools on the
shelf between the Ayeyarwaddy and the Indaing forest on Thaung Hwet Taung (the mountain of
the 10,000 hidden) to the southeast.53 Fowl such as pheasants, partridge, toucans, pelicans and
Saurus cranes live around in-gyi and the tall swamp grass areas, while numerous fish are found
in the in-gyi and Telawa Chaung bordering the walled site on the north. Tigers, elephants,
banteng (Saing) and gaur were once common along the Shweli, with various types of deer
around Tagaung. 54 One reason the seasonal pools and lakes are vital is that the water flowing
down from Thaung Hwet Taung is high in sulphur and not potable. Other natural resources are
seen on the mountain to the northeast, the Tagaung Taung or In-net (black-in). These include
some mined at present, such as manganese, source of the black waters, and others exploited in
the past, notably Kyauk Sein a green chalcedony used for polished stone beads.

REF : CHANGE IN THE LANDSCAPE OF FIRST MILLENIUM AD MYANMAR

By : Elizabeth Moore & U Win Maung (Tampawaddy)

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