Gold, Coffin, Urn and Secondary Burials: Towards Archaeology of Proto and Early Historic Mortuary in Imphal Valley, Manipur

Haridas Keisham* and Hidam Ajit Meetei

This paper synthesises archaeological evidence from three mortuary contexts in Manipur, including Malom, Sekta mound, and the Lamboiching gold masked skull, to reassess early historic funerary practices in the Imphal Valley. A log coffin burial at Malom-Tuliyaima was excavated accompanied with significant grave goods has been interpreted as a rare example of pre-Hindu coffin burial, likely associated with a higher-status individual. Whereas, the Sekta-Kei burial, revealed seven stratified cultural periods of secondary urn burial, which contains disarticulated human remains and diverse grave goods in copper, brass, iron, and ceramics, documenting a Manipuri population whose mortuary practices provided social and occupational differentiation, and ritual economy. Furthermore, the presence of bell metal relics casket and Pagoda style porcelain ware indicates early Buddhist ritualistic influence and long-distance trade & connections. Burials are still prevalent but diluted at the hands of Sanskritization and Urbanisation. In contrast to others, the Gold masked skulls from Lamboiching, represent an exceptionally elaborate form of secondary burial closely tied with local tradition to royal Meitei funerary rites (Lu-pung-thonba), in which exhumed skulls were cleaned, encased in gold or silver, and re-buried with other grave goods. Comparatively, it shows that such gold mask treatments resonate with elite mortuary practices elsewhere in East and South-east Asia. The findings from Lamboiching and Sekta further indicates a high-status mortuary display and the symbolic transformation of the cranium through metallic masking. By integrating grave goods with skeletal evidence, this paper situates Manipur’s burials within the broader Southeast and Northeast Asian archaeological and mortuary landscape.