Research: Ancient Myanmar
Investigating ancient monuments in and around Bagan, Myanmar, following the city's listing as a World Heritage Site.
Summary
Research summary
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2017 to 2023
Researchers are investigating the ancient capital city of Myanmar and its environs following their listing as one the most important heritage sites in the world.
Dating from the ninth century, Bagan was a city in the Mandalay region of Myanmar. Between the 11th and 13th centuries, more than 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were built in the area and the remains of over 2,200 buildings survive.
It was added to the United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) list of World Heritage Sites in 2019.
Manchester Met’s research builds on decades of study by Dr Tilman Frasch, who has been making a detailed and comprehensive list of the inscriptions written by the people during the Bagan period.
The inscriptions were central to the site’s listing but it is not clear how many there are and whether they remain in their original locations or have been moved to museums or other places. Many of the inscriptions record important information on the construction and endowment of the monuments, but a significant number still remain undocumented or unedited.
Researchers are cataloguing the unrecorded inscriptions and taking specially processed images that make the inscriptions more legible, which they will publish.
Fieldwork is also focusing on Pakhan-gyi, north of Bagan, which was included in the region’s management plan as a potential tourist site.
The town is surrounded by a massive wall and home to several Bagan-period monuments and inscriptions as well as a national museum, but has otherwise attracted little academic attention. The project will record the town’s heritage and further research into its history.
Research outputs
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Edwards, B, Frasch, T and Jeyacheya, J (2019) Evaluating the effectiveness of land-use zoning for the protection of built heritage in the Bagan Archaeological Zone, Myanmar—A satellite remote-sensing approach. Land Use Policy. 88, pp.104174-104174
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Frasch, T (2018) “Myanmar Epigraphy – Current State and Future Tasks,” in Daniel Perret (ed), Writing for Eternity. A Survey of Epigraphy in Southeast Asia, Paris: EFEO, pp.47-72
Team
Funding
With funding from
Global Challenge Research Fund
Contact us
For general enquiries about the religion, race, ethnicity and community research group, please contact its leads, Dr Andrew Crome and Rachel Lichtenstein.
