THE Pyu settlement of Sri Ksetra could be centuries older than previously thought, according to a research paper published earlier this year.

The scholarly consensus is that the Pyu settlement arose in the fifth century CE, based largely on a stone relief now in Yangon’s National Museum. But “this dating might be revised backward”, according to the paper’s authors, as similar artwork found in India has been dated to the second century BCE.

“[I]t suggests the possibility of both craft and ritual activity at [Sri Ksetra] well before the fifth century CE,” according to the authors, archaeologist Bob Hudson, from Australia’s University of Sydney, and Terry Lustig.

The article “Communities of the past: A new view of the old walls and hydraulic system at Sriksetra, Myanmar” was published in the June edition of the quarterly Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, a National University of Singapore publication

The two authors also expressed doubts that Sri Ksetra “fell” to the Nanchao in the ninth century or that the Pyu capital shifted to Hanlin, in Sagaing Division, as is commonly stated by historians. New evidence suggests instead that Sri Ksetra most likely remained an important settlement until it was occupied by the expanding Bagan kingdom in the 11th century.

King Anawrahta is sometimes portrayed as the destroyer of Sri Ksetra but the Bagan conquest actually appears to have restarted monument construction at the site.

While other major Pyu settlements in Myanmar – Hanlin and Beikthano, both in Mandalay Division – also show signs of Bagan occupation, “it is at [Sri Ksetra] where the evidence of occupation after the supposed decline and fall of the city is strongest”.

A number of buildings at Sri Ksetra appear to be modelled on larger monuments at Bagan and 65 ruins at the site – 23 percent of the total buildings so far uncovered – were constructed from “Bagan-style” bricks, which are smaller than those used by the earlier Pyu builders.

Some of the “Bagan” bricks uncovered at Sri Ksetra are also inscribed with Pyu characters.

“This suggests technological continuity … [and] an adaptation by the population of [Sri Ksetra] to the realities of empire rather than the reoccupation by Bagan of an abandoned site,” according to the authors.

Construction of these “Bagan” brick buildings most likely took place in the 13th century, when construction at Bagan was at its peak.

At least 2076 monuments were constructed at Bagan in the 13th century, according to UNESCO, compared to 215 in the 12th century.