Wadee ancient city, located about 5 miles southeast of Natogyi in Mandalay Region, can be a significant area that developed along the urbanization line in Myanmar’s history, according to U Kyaw Myo Win, director of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture (Bagan Division).
He has participated twice in the excavation of Wadee city.
“It can be described as semi urban. There is a wall, but its bricks are not the right size. There are only very few buildings. Their brick sizes are also not regular. Sandstone slabs are used as an alternate layer to the bricks. These sandstones come from the big fault southwest of Wadee,” he explained.
After excavating the graves, the skeletons of six human bodies are found buried in whole, showing that the funeral system of the early Pyu era wasn’t well established yet.
“No evidence of Wadee’s religious activities was found. What is strange is that the site, which is thought to be the palace, is elevated. It is a large area and when we excavated it, we found layers of bones and ashes, one after another. After 6 feet of this vertical trench, the ground became hard as if it were a floor. Piles of ashes like stoves were found. We sent the bones to the zoology department of the Mandalay University for examination and they were found to be the bones of cows, chickens, dogs and goats and the horns of cows. All the bones were found to have been cut and chipped. It seems that rituals were more prominent than religious activities,” he explained.
The customs of the bronze age and iron age are still found in Pyu era, and according to the research, Wadee city didn’t fully reach the state of a city and it seems to be the closest time before installing the pre-Pyu era administration system with heads and changing from burial to cremation.
“The cultural process developed along the Mu delta spread over the whole western areas of Myanmar, and through Myothit and Natmauk, walled cities such as Beikthano developed, and it may have extended, after crossing over the Ayeyarwady river, to or beyond the Mann creek plain throughout the pre-urbanization age. The culture of Mu delta can be assumed to spread into the east, but its urbanization may not be as strong as the western plain because of the shortage of basic needs -settlements, water and food production. Therefore, Wadee can be assumed to be an important area on which the development of Myanmar pre-urbanization and urbanization stages are based,” he said.
Htet Oo Maung/ZN
