Earliest Buddhist shrine

[Duncan Head]

Not military, but:

Archaeologists digging at Buddha's birthplace have uncovered remains of the "earliest ever Buddhist shrine".

They unearthed a 6th Century BC timber structure buried within the Maya Devi Temple at Lumbini in Nepal.

The shrine appears to have housed a tree. This links to the Buddha nativity story - his mother gave birth to him while holding on to a tree branch.

Its discovery may settle the dispute over the birth date of the Buddha, the team reports in the journal Antiquity.

From http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25088960; the Antiquity article at http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/087/ant0871104.htm (requires subscription).