Excavation at the ancient site at Vangchhia in Champhai district close to the Indo-Myanmar border, carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), has been going on for more than three years now.
Ongoing excavations in the ancient necropolis site in Mizoram's Vangchhia has thrown up some startling finds — Petroglyphs showing unidentified living beings descending from a stairway leading to the heavens.
Excavation at the ancient site at Vangchhia in Champhai district close to the Indo-Myanmar border, carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), has been going on for more than three years now. In 2015, the ASI stumbled upon menhirs (erect stone structures) when a team carried out initial exploration in the area on the insistence of retired IAS officer Pachuau Rohmingthanga, who discovered the menhirs in 2010.
After the initial exploration, ASI sent in a team and found traces of a lost civilisation and a necropolis. Following this, ASI opened a new circle office in Aizawl in September 2017, and in December, they sent in archeologist Sujeet Nayan who had carried out the initial excavations.
Speaking to DNA from Aizawl, Nayan said that the area of the necropolis, thought to be spread in an area of a little over an acre, has been found to be spread over 100 sq kms. "In my opinion, this makes the necropolis possibly the largest in the world," he said.
He added that some of the findings include vertical burials, corbelled due to sandstone deposits over the years. "We have found over 17 terrace gardens, advanced water storage facilities, buttons, and over 300 stairs in the site," said Nayan.
Apart from these, one of interesting discoveries, Nayan added, is of petroglyphs (drawings on rocks) depicting an outerly being descending from the skies through stairs.
After the initial discoveries, charcoal samples from the site sent for carbon dating resulted in two time periods. The sample sent to Florida-based Beta Analytic dated the site to a period between 1450 to 1500 AD, but the result of the one sent to Lucknow-based Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany pushed back the date to as far as 600 AD.
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