A team led by U Myo Min Aung, assistant director of the Directorate of Hotels and Tourism (Bagan), accompanied by staff and officials from the NyaungU District Information and Public Relations Department went on a study tour to Thanbo village in Kyaukpadaung Township to check the fossils recently discovered and carry out feasibility studies on the community-based tourism.
The pieces of petrified wood and iron smelting furnace were discovered in Thanbo village-tract, Kyaukpadaung Township, NyaungU District in Mandalay Region. The village administrator invited officials from the Directorate of Hotels and Tourism to observe the fossils and production of traditional medicines in the village.
Petrified wood is commonly found in Kyaukpadaung Township, Mandalay Region and Thanbo village is one of the sites to collect pieces of petrified wood, the residents said.
This fossil unearthed in Thanbo village was found 17 feet under the ground level and the length of this petrified wood cannot be confirmed yet as the digging has not finished. The petrified wood is estimated at six feet and seven inches, for now, said U Maung Maung Soe, an administrator.
The administrator has collected approximately 100 primate fossils, yet the fossils of living beings have been found in seven pieces only, an expert guessed.
Those animal fossils discovered are horn, the jawbone of elephant, tortoiseshell, the skeleton of cattle and the oldest primate which is similar to the earliest fossils found in Myaing Township, Pakokku District.
This village is next to the Koekway forest reserve on Popa Road, which is likely to be home to thousands of mammals and aquatic animals, U Maung Maung Soe explained.
During the Bagan Dynasty, a forest in Thanbo village was the main supplier of weapons so lots of furnaces were seen.
The village is relying on traditional medicines and they made herbal medicines collected by the Popa area. The villagers sell them to the visitors to Mount Popa.
The department suggests visitors drop in Thanbo village in Kyaukpadaung Township to observe petrified wood. — Ko Htein (KPD)/GNLM
