Climate

Contemporary epigraphy

The first undisputed mention of Thaton is in the 1479 Kalyani Inscriptions, which were written in the Middle Mon language and attributed to Dhammazedi. This inscription uses "Sudhuim", which is the usual Mon form of the name.^{[4]: 79, 84}

Thaton is not mentioned before this, although other inscriptions from Bagan and Ava monarchs do mention places farther south. Then in 1486, the name Sudhammapura appears in three Mon inscriptions. There is one inscription purportedly dating to 1067 records the building of a temple by a king Manuho of Thaton, but based on linguistic analysis (for example, the spelling of certain words is more characteristic of later times than of Pagan times), Aung-Thwin says the inscription is likely from a later period. (Even among scholars who are proponents of the idea that Thaton was a major capital at this time period, the 1067 inscription is also rejected for the same reasons, and they say it could be no earlier than the 1500s.)^{[4]: 83–4, 105, 109–10}

The earliest dated inscriptions found near Thaton (but not mentioning it) are the Kyaik Talan and Kyaik Te inscriptions, which were made in 1098 under Kyanzittha.^{[4]: 159, 161} The two inscriptions were found at the Kyaik Talan and Kyaik Te stupas in Ayetthema, on the northwest side of Kelasa Mountain.^[5]: 215 The inscriptions record the renovation of the stupas under Kyanzittha.^[9]: 6

Archaeology

An urban site at Thaton was excavated between 1975 and 1977 under U Myint Aung. The site is small, with an area of about 1,500 square yards and "at most three major stupas". A large structure that may have been a palace has partially been excavated, at the center of the site. Part of the city walls also remain. ^{[4]: 80–2, 217, 348}

The walled area of Thaton is mostly rectangular in shape, roughly measuring 2010 m from north to south and 1290 m from east to west. The walls aren't perfectly rectangular, though — the northeast and southeast corners each have a few rounded segments that serve to "draw water off from streams flowing down from peaks on the escarpment".^{[5]: 220–1} The overall layout resembles the 1st-millennium site of Halin, which also had a rectangular shape.^{[10]: 200 [note 1]}

The lower layers of Thaton's city walls contain numerous fingermarked bricks,^[5]: 222 which according to Elizabeth Moore are characteristic of first-millennium architectural remains over a wide area including not just Myanmar but also parts of India and Thailand.^{[10]: 195 : 200 [note 2]} As a result, Moore and San Win date the walls of Thaton to the first millennium as well.^[5]: 222

Remains of city gates have been found on the north and south walls, but none have been found on the east or west walls.^[4]: 81

Three carved reliefs of Hindu deities found at Thaton in the 19th century have been variously stylistically dated to the 9th/10th or 11th centuries. One depicts Shiva and Parvati.^[10]: 204 The other two are reddish sandstone reliefs, each over a meter tall, depicting the god Vishnu reclining on the serpent Ananta Shesha. Three lotus stems are depicted as coming out of Vishnu's navel, and smaller figures of Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva are depicted sitting on them.^[5]: 222 (Normally, there would only be one lotus and deity coming out of Vishnu's navel.) The exact find spots for these three reliefs was not recorded, so their function is unknown. They were likely intended for local faithful, indicating an "eclectic religious milieu" at first-millennium Thaton. All three were destroyed during the Second World War when they were kept in the University of Yangon's library.^[10]: 204

Another relief^{[note 3]} found at Thaton is a 1.2 m-tall depiction of Shiva sitting down, with his bull Nandi shown below his right leg and a "buffalo demon" below his left knee.^[5]: 222

There is also a set of sema, or boundary stones, at the Kalyani Thein ordination hall near the Shweyazan stupa.^[5]: 222 The Kalyani sema are each over a meter tall and carved with panels depicting of the life of Gautama Buddha and floral designs at the top.^{[5]: 222–3} Their date is highly uncertain — stylistically similar sema found in Thailand are associated with the Dvaravati culture and dated to the 6th through 9th centuries, but the Kalyani sema also have their own distinct forms that have been tentatively associated with Mon migrations from Haripuñjaya in the 12th and 13th centuries.^[5]: 223

Myint Aung's excavation in the 1970s did not produce any radiocarbon dating, so the exact date of the site is uncertain.^[4]: 82 According to Moore and San Win, repeated renovations and additions to pilgrimage sites has made detecting first-millennium remains "extremely difficult". However, as mentioned above, they identify the fingermarked bricks as evidence of first-millennium occupation at Thaton.^[5]: 222

Historiography of the conquest story

The origins of the conquest story by Anawrahta in 1057 are unclear and "apparently does not go back to any single source". According to Michael Aung-Thwin, the story may have originated from Bagan's conquest of Lower Burma during this period. Anawrahta's southward expansion is well-documented in contemporary inscriptions, with about 28 votive tablets recording his activity as far south as Mergui. But no Bagan-era inscription mentions a conquest of Thaton, which would be unusual because it would have been directly on the route to Mergui.^{[4]: 111–2, 149, 304}