AKM took its Arju Campers to Chungliyimti Village in Tuensang districts on 13 March as part of their three-day camp. The camp is an initiative of Ao Kaketshir Mungdang under the aegis of Samagra Shiksha, Nagaland. The campers, under the guidance of Chungliyimti Village Council Chairman Chubatemsu, visited the Longtrok site and the site of the excavation made by Archeologist Tiatoshi. This trip was made to help the school children trace back to their roots.
2. According to oral history, the term ‘Longtrok’ translates to ‘six different languages.’ As per the Chungliyimti Village Council Chairman, each stone is said to represent one language, symbolizing the six tribes — Sangtam, Konyak, Phom, Chang, Yimkhiung, and Ao. Before dispersing, they set these monoliths in place and departed for their present-day settlements. To this day, only the Ao community is said to have actively traced its roots through historical study.
Tiatoshi Jamir in an article titled, “Decolonizing archaeological practice in Northeast India: Towards a community-based archaeology at Chungliyimti, Nagaland” writes: Oral tradition recounts Chungliyimti as the once ancestral village of the Aos, few sections of the Changs, Phoms and Sangtams. These were communities that were labeled as ‘tribes’ in colonial accounts. An Ao origin myth also informs of the emergence of progenitors of the Aos from six stones or Longtrok (Long-stone; trok-six) after which they founded Chungliyimti. The site remained deserted for few centuries until it was re-occupied by some members from Chare and Tonger village (Northern Sangtam Naga) and Longsa village (Ao Naga). Today, the residents of Chungliyimti who partly occupy the ancient site are the descent communities of these later occupants and continue to trace their historical link to this ancestral site.
According to the same article, Jamir began his Preliminary excavations in January 2007 with a research grant from the University Grants Commission, New Delhi. Further excavation continued in subsequent years with the involvement of the Anthropological Society of Nagaland and the Directorate of Art & Culture, Government of Nagaland. Pottery bearing carved paddle and cord-mark designs, wheel made kaolin potteries, a few ground stone tools, iron tools, carnelian and glass beads, spindle whorls etc. were the main materials retrieved. Charred remains of both wild (Oryza sp (cf. nivara); Oryza sp. (cf. rufipogon) and cultivated rice (Oryza sativa), and millet (Setaria sp.) native to the region were reported together with introduced cereals such as wheat (Triticum aestivum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare). Eight radiometric dates obtained assigned the site within cal. AD 980-1647 AD (see Pokharia et al. 2013; Jamir et al. 2014).