Assam: Tracing History, Rare Coins Dating Back To 900 AD Discovered In Morigaon

Guwahati: In a rare discovery, the state directorate of archaeology has unearthed rare and unique uniface coins made of copper and silver in the Morigaon district of Assam and the coins date back to the period of Tyagsimha (890-900 AD), who happened to be the last ruler of the Mlechchha dynasty.

 At least 12 coins and 10 broken pieces of coins which were mostly made of copper and some made of silver were recovered by the directorate.

According to reports, the alphabet Ta (used in Assamese and Bengali) was inscribed on the obverse side of the coins while the reverse side had been left blank.

However, more study and research are required to disclose further information about the coins and it was handed over to the directorate of archaeology team by the Morigaon deputy commissioner for further study.

Besides these, terracotta pieces of parts of the body, rim, neck, lid parts, a broken pipe and base part were also found by a team of the directorate.

The Mlechchha dynasty ruled Kamarupa from its capital Harruppesvar or present-day Tezpur after the fall of the Varman dynasty.

Earlier, researchers had discovered around 65 huge sandstone jars in Assam that may well have been used for ancient human burial practices.

However, it was found that these jars differed in their shape as well as their size when compared to jars these days.

As per the study published in the Journal of Asian Archaeology, some of them were tall and cylindrical while the rest were partly or fully buried in the ground.

These mysterious objects were unearthed by a team led by Tilok Thakuria, from North-Eastern Hill University in Meghalaya, and Uttam Bathari, from Gauhati University in Assam.

These jars were found scattered over four sites in the north-eastern state of Assam.

Meanwhile, the researchers were of the view that they were likely associated with mortuary practices.

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