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The unusual thing about the soil around the timber structure was that it was ----.
Beneath a temple thought to mark the location of the
Buddha's birth, archaeologists may have discovered the
physical roots of the religion: an ancient tree shrine that
predates all known Buddhist sites. The archaeological
record of Buddhism stretches back to the time of
Ashoka, an Indian emperor who enthusiastically
embraced the religion in the 3rd century BC and built
many temples. The sage known as the Buddha though,
probably lived about three centuries earlier. The
remains of one of Ashoka's temples lie at Lumbinini in
Nepal, which many recognise as the Buddha's
birthplace. As part of his conservation work, Robert
Coningham at Durham University, excavated below the
temple foundations. He found evidence of pre-Ashokan
stonework and, below that, signs of a timber structure
that was radiocarbon dated to between 800 and 550 BC.
When the surrounding soil was examined it was found
to contain the remains of ancient tree roots, but was
strangely free of the debris usually left by human
occupation. This suggests that a tree grew at the centre
of the wooden structure, and that the area around it was
regularly cleaned, just as Buddhist tree shrines are
cleaned today