Research in Assam, North-East India, has discovered hundreds of mysterious giant sandstone jars dotted around the landscape.
The presence of such jars in Assam has been known since the 1920s, but recent surveys – led by Tilok Thakuria from North-Eastern Hill University and Uttam Bathari from Gauhati University – have shed new light on this megalithic landscape and have identified four previously unknown sites in the region, bringing the number of recorded sites up to 11, together containing almost 800 jars.
These jars exhibit varying degrees of survival; there are some complete examples, but many are broken or in a fragmentary condition. Most of the jars are bulbous in shape with an elongated conical bottom, although the survey also identified cylindrical and biconical examples. The jars range in size from 1m to 3m tall and from 0.85m to 2m in diameter, and although most are plain, some are decorated with patterns or human and animal figures.
Similar jars are also known in Laos (see CWA 96, 102, and 108) and Indonesia, but their function remains uncertain. Many of the examples in Laos are associated with human burials made there later. They are therefore believed to have had some sort of mortuary role – and some scholars have suggested that this may also be the case for the Indonesian jars – so it is possible that this is true of the jars in Assam as well, although no human remains have been found at these sites.
Many of the jar sites in Assam also contain engraved stone slabs decorated with human figures and other motifs. It is unclear how they are related to the jars but it has been suggested that – like the later burials found at several jar sites in Laos – their presence may reflect the continuing cultural significance of these sites over many years. The date when these jars were first placed in the ground is also unknown. Excavations have not yet been carried out at the sites, so there is currently no material available for scientific dating. However, researchers have proposed that they may date to the early Iron Age in India, c.400 BC.
At present, not much is known about who created the jar sites in Assam, but they are believed to be part of the same tradition as the jars in Laos and Indonesia, perhaps brought to North-East India by migrating Austro-Asiatic peoples from Southeast Asia.
The recent research has highlighted the widespread distribution of the stone jars across Assam, but researchers believe that there are many more as-yet-undiscovered jar sites to be found. It is hoped that future surveys will make this possible, as well as improving our understanding of the sites currently known.
The research on the stone jar sites has been published in the Journal of Asian Archaeology (https://doi.org/10.1007/s41826-022-00043-3).
Images: Tilok Thakuria, Uttam Bathari, and Nicholas Skopal, Journal of Asian Archaeology.