ITANAGAR, 14 Jan: A Neolithic stone tool has been found in Upper Siang district by Bigong Tedo, the gaon burah of Mossing village, which he discovered while working in his rice fields.
Tedo and Lomik Tedo have loaned the tool to Rajiv Gandhi University’s Arunachal Institute for Tribal Studies (AITS), in hopes that it may be studied by scholars to learn more about Arunachal’s unique and ancient cultural heritage.
According to Dr Yankee Modi and Dr Mark W Post, two linguists from the University of Sydney who were recently conducting research in Mossing village, Tedo’s discovery highlights the fact that indigenous peoples of Arunachal share a history that extends for many thousands of years into the past, and represents some of the most resilient and enduring civilisations in the continent of Asia.
Accepting the object on behalf of RGU, AITS Director Prof Jumyir Basar thanked the Mossing GB’s family for their contribution to scholarship and cultural heritage preservation, and affirmed that the axe will be placed at the AITS Tribal Heritage Museum. She also confirmed that the AITS will work to conserve this and other such objects for research and study, while also protecting the ownership rights of the indigenous people who discover them.
