Oldest Buddha Shrine Dates Birth to 6th Century B.C.
The birthplace of the Buddha has been found in Nepal, revealing that the origins of Buddhism date to the sixth century B.C., according to archaeologists. What’s more, evidence of tree roots at the birth site reinforce the mythology of Buddha’s birth under a tree.
The excavations took place within the already sacred Maya Devi Temple at Lumbini, Nepal, a UNESCO World Heritage site long thought to have been the Buddha’s birthplace.
The archaeological team dug under a series of brick temples at the site and unearthed a previously unknown sixth-century B.C. timber structure. It is described in the latest issue of the journal Antiquity.
The timber structure contains an open space in the center that links to the nativity story of the Buddha himself.
“The discovery of evidence of tree roots in the center of the earliest shrines at Lumbini — the presence of a tree shrine — add a real physical perspective to the Buddhist traditions of his life story, which associated Lumbini with the Buddha’s birth under a tree,” said Robin Coningham, co-leader of the project and an archaeologist at Durham University.
The team has used a combination of radiocarbon dating and optically stimulated luminescence techniques to date fragments of charcoal and grains of sand at the timber shrine. Analysis of the site’s geology confirmed the presence of ancient tree roots within the temple’s central void.
Source : Discovery News