Little known facts in Myanmar history: P’iao_“one of the tribes of the ‘Gold Teeth Comfortership’

P’iao_one of the tribes of the ‘Gold Teeth Comfortership

I first read about the Gold Teeth tribe ေရႊသြားႏိုင္ငံ described by Chinese sources in its description about the people living in northern Myanmar, (in one of Dr. Than Tun’s books in Burmese about the Pyu). Later I found the following in English on the net.

Luce goes on to note reference by the Chinese to the P’iao as “one of the tribes of the ‘Gold Teeth Comfortership’ (1985:66). The ‘Gold Teeth’ tribes perhaps find authentication in the 1999 finding at Shwegugyi Zeidi south of Halin, of an upper jawbone with eight teeth drilled with a pattern of 102 tiny holes filled with gold foil. The jawbone was from a skeleton found under a large stone slab and an associated pillar about 1.5m long, with gold and silver rings, pottery and iron tools (Hudson 2003:10, Win Maung (Tampawaddy) 1999).

Later, I saw the photo in a journal and recently, I obtained it from the Myanmar Archaeology Students Blog, the Association Of Myanmar Archaeologists: https://aomar.wordpress.com

in the article / blog

Halin (Hanlin, Halin-gyi)

Halin (Hanlin, Halin-gyi)

As this reference indicates, research on the Pyu bringing together Chinese references, chronicles and artefacts is now ongoing, particularly at Halin, but the identification of the Pyu ‘capital’ among the ‘tribes’ at this time is uncertain. Chinese reference to “hills of sand and a desert tract” suggest Halin rather than Sriksetra (Luce 1960: 317).

Tags: history, infotainment, Myanmar, Pyu