Prehistory

Main articles: Prehistory of Myanmar and Migration period of ancient Burma

Pyu city-states c. 8th century; Pagan is shown for comparison only and is not contemporary.

Archaeological evidence shows that Homo erectus lived in the region now known as Myanmar as
early as 750,000 years ago, with no more erectus finds after 75,000 years ago.[42] The first evidence
of Homo sapiens is dated to about 25,000 BP with discoveries of stone tools in central Myanmar.
[43]
 Evidence of Neolithic age domestication of plants and animals and the use of polished stone tools
dating to sometime between 10,000 and 6,000 BCE has been discovered in the form of cave
paintings in Padah-Lin Caves.[44]
The Bronze Age arrived c. 1500 BCE when people in the region were turning copper into bronze,
growing rice and domesticating poultry and pigs; they were among the first people in the world to do
so.[45] Human remains and artefacts from this era were discovered in Monywa District in the Sagaing
Division.[46] The Iron Age began around 500 BCE with the emergence of iron-working settlements in
an area south of present-day Mandalay.[47] Evidence also shows the presence of rice-growing
settlements of large villages and small towns that traded with their surroundings as far as China
between 500 BCE and 200 CE.[48] Iron Age Burmese cultures also had influences from outside
sources such as India and Thailand, as seen in their funerary practices concerning child burials. This
indicates some form of communication between groups in Myanmar and other places, possibly
through trade.[49]
Early city-states
Main articles: Pyu city-states and Mon kingdoms
Around the second century BCE the first-known city-states emerged in central Myanmar. The city-
states were founded as part of the southward migration by the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu people,
the earliest inhabitants of Myanmar of whom records are extant, from present-day Yunnan.[50] The
Pyu culture was heavily influenced by trade with India, importing Buddhism as well as other cultural,
architectural and political concepts, which would have an enduring influence on later Burmese
culture and political organisation. [51]
By the 9th century, several city-states had sprouted across the land: the Pyu in the central dry zone,
Mon along the southern coastline and Arakanese along the western littoral. The balance was upset
when the Pyu came under repeated attacks from Nanzhao between the 750s and the 830s. In the
mid-to-late 9th century the Bamar people founded a small settlement at Bagan. It was one of several
competing city-states until the late 10th century when it grew in authority and grandeur. [52]