The carbon dating tests have confirmed that the largest known ancient burial site found in Uttar Pradesh’s Sinauli, where 126 burials were excavated, are at least 3,800 years old, reports Times of India.

According to the reports, the ASI had conducted excavations in Sinauli, 68 km from Delhi in UP’s Baghpat district, which had paved for the discovery of horse-drawn chariots, burials, four-legged wooden coffins, pottery, a copper antenna sword, war shields.

On further examination, the ASI has revealed that the elaborate burials, which included underground chambers, decorated legged coffins and rice in pots buried with the bodies, belong to an indigenous warrior tribe which inhabited the region.

ASI joint director S K Manjul, who led the excavations at Sanauli, said that the carbon dating has now confirmed that the burials date back to 1900 BC.

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“Between 2005 and 2006, 116 burials were found while 10 more were discovered in the last two years, making it India’s largest known necropolis,” he added.

The burial pits had legged coffins along with systematically arranged vases, bowls and pots. One of the coffins was decorated with eight anthropomorphic figures.

A recent report submitted by the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleosciences in Lucknow to the ASI had said that there are two C-14 (carbon dating) dates – 3815 and 3500, with a margin of error of 130 years for the Sanauli site. The report added that the carbon dating marks this site as the earliest history of a warrior tribe in the Indian subcontinent.

The burials bear similarity to Vedic rituals, said officials. “What is startling is the impressions of cloth found on bodies that suggest purification of bodies similar to what we practice in Hindu religion,” said Manjul.

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The joint director added that three chariots found at the site have a fixed axle linked by a long pole to the small yoke and were run by a pair of animals. The size and shape of the chariots indicate they were pulled by horses. The axle, chassis and wheels show similarities to contemporary chariots, he added.

Historian B R Mani, who oversaw excavations in Sanauli in 2005, said that the site should be looked at as an interaction of a period of practices of Ganga Yamuna Doab and Indus Valley cultures.

The site at Sinauli is famous for its Bronze Age “chariots”, the first ones to be recovered in an archaeological excavation in South Asia. The excavations in Sinauli were conducted by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in 2005-06 and in mid-2018, which is still continuing.

Further, the anthropomorphic figures on coffin indicate some kind of religious beliefs. Some anthropomorphic figure made of Gold, copper associated with Vedic gods has also been found, which traces back to the roots of early historic cultures. Materials found here contemporary to the late-mature phase of Harappans.