Tea with the junta

I hardly ever mix politics with prehistory, but I feel on this occasion I must. My interest in Burma, as it was when I grew up, began with tales from my father, who lived there for a decade in the 1930s. Twenty-one years ago, an opportunity came to visit what had become Myanmar. News emerged that a Bronze Age site had been found, the first in a country where archaeology had and still does concentrate on the historic period of the Pyu and Bagan states. The Myanmar authorities decided to publicise this find by inviting a group of specialists to visit the country and travel to the site. Nyaung’gan is located well up country, beyond the Chindwin River, so it sounded like a fascinating journey