Strange, Giant Stone Jars Created by a Mysterious People Were Just Found in India

Archeologists in Assam have found more sites to add to a long-standing mystery. 65 giant sandstone vessels bulge from the ground in four previously unknown locations.

Some of the ancient objects are tall and cylindrical and others are shaped like cones. Some are partially buried. What purpose they served is not known. It seems more widespread than we knew.

There are 11 megalithic jar sites in Assam. Similar sites have been found in other countries. They are from the second millennium BCE to the 13th centuryCE. Human remains found in and around jars suggest they may have been used for mortuary practices.

The first formal descriptions of megalithic jar sites in Assam were made in 1929 by British civil servants Philip Mills and John Henry Hutton. Part of the work to relocate and catalog the sites was discovered the seventh site.

The previously unknown sites started to emerge when work recommenced in 2020.

There are jars at Thaimodholing. hakuria et al., Asian Archaeology

The team just went in to survey three large sites that hadn't been formally surveyed. Archeologist Nicholae Skopal of the Australian National University in Australia says grids were set up to explore the surrounding forested regions.

This is when we started finding new jar sites.

The new sites were the village of Herakilo, a ridgeline at Thaimodholing, and a spur at Thaimodholing, where 12 badly damaged jars were found.

A total of 797 jars have been identified in various states of preservation over an area of 300 square kilometers. The jars seem to have been positioned on ridges, spurs and hills with views of lowlands.

Archeologists haven't found any sources of the sandstone from which the jars are carved in the vicinity of any of the sites.

We don't know who made the jars or where they lived. Skopal says it is a bit of a mystery.

There are jars at Lower Chaikam. hakuria et al., Asian Archaeology

There are clues that suggest that the Assam jars may have been used for mortuary practices.

The jars contained cremated bone fragments. According to her reports, the Zemi Naga people believed that the jars were made by the lost Siemi people for funerary purposes.

There are stories from the Naga people, the current ethnic groups in north-eastern India, of finding Assam jars filled with cremated remains, beads, and other material artifacts.

Since the team only searched a limited area, it is likely there are many more jar sites out there. The researchers said that this is important for protecting the heritage of Assam. There are more surveys needed across Assam, Meghalaya, and Manipur.

There is an importance to maintain the cultural heritage because there aren't any living ethnic groups associated with the jars.

The longer we take to find them, the greater the chance that they will be destroyed, as more crops are planted in these areas and the forests are cut down.

Archeologists can piece together the heritage of the mysterious people who made the jars if they find more sites.

The research has been published.