Researchers Discover Mysterious Giant Stone Jars In Assam

GUWAHATI: In a recent discovery by a survey team, mysterious stone jars with a giant structure were found in different locations in the northeastern state of Assam's Dima Hasao.

According to reports, a total of 65 big sandstone jars are found scattered over four sites in Assam.

The research project was headed by Uttam Bathari of Guwahati University in Assam and Tilok Thakuria of North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong.

The entire discovery involved a team of researchers from three different universities in India and Australia. Nicolas Skopal, a researcher from Australian National University played a significant role in the research.

The sandstone jars are found in different shapes and sizes and kept in different positions. Some of the stone jars are tall while few are cylindrical.

Out of the 65 stone jars, some are partly buried inside the ground and some are fully buried. Researchers suspect that these jars have been used for burial practices by ancient humans.

Earlier, in 2016 similar stone jars were discovered by archeologists in Indonesia and Laos.

The jars uncovered in Laos look just like those in Assam with the only difference that jars in Assam are more bulbous but the ones in Laos were more cylindrical in shape.

The details of the recent discovery in Assam were published this week in the Journal of Asian Archaeology.

Dr. Thakaria from NEHU informed that at present the jars are empty but possibly it was covered with lids in the past.

The Australian researcher Skopal said that they have no idea about who made the giant stone jars and where they live, it's all a bit of mystery.

However, the researchers are of the strong opinion that these mysterious jars are somehow related to the mortuary practices in ancient times.

Skopal said that there are several stories regarding the ethnic Naga community finding the jars in Assam filled with dead remains, beads and material artifacts.

The next step of the research is to excavate these jars for extensive document features said Dr. Thakaria. The researchers said that there is a possibility that more jars will be found as they only searched a limited area.

According to researchers in the past years, several sites like this were discovered in the state of Assam and neighbouring Meghalaya.

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