The Buddha's Skull?

Malcolm Moore reports for the Telegraph (UK) that Chinese archaeologists have found a very small "pagoda" -- it sounds more like an ornate reliquary shaped like a pogoda -- that allegedly contains a gold coffin bearing part of the Buddha's skull inside a silver box.

Scans have confirmed there are two metal boxes inside the pagoda, but no one has opened it to look at them. Apparently the scientists will not open the pagoda until they can do so without harming the contents.

There is speculation the relics were in one of the 84,000 stupas said to have been commissioned by Ashoka the Great of India (304 – 232 BCE). After the Buddha's cremation, his remains were divided into eight parts and placed into eight stupas. The Emperor Ashoka opened the stupas, further divided the relics and had them enshrined in 84,000 stupas scattered throughout his empire. (Note to the Telegraph headline writer: This would make the pagoda more than 2,200 years old, not 1,000 years old.)

The problem with this theory is that, according to the history books I have at hand, Ashoka's empire didn't extend anywhere remotely close to modern-day Nanjing, a discrepancy that neither the Chinese archaeologists nor the crack editorial staff of the Telegraph took into account.

In the late 6th century the Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty had stupas built all over China as a means to unite long-divided northern and southern China, further dividing the Buddha's relics. Many other stupas have been built in China, and elsewhere in Asia, since. One suspects that if the World-Honored One were reassembled, he'd be hundreds of feet tall and have numerous heads, legs, and hooves.

Even so, if the pagoda is indeed from an early Chinese stupa, it could be archaeologically significant.

Update: More about the reliquary at Tricycle Blog and China View. The artifact does seem to be from Ashoka's empire, which makes it a pretty big deal. I speculate it was carried to Nanjing a few centuries after Ashoka.