"[7] In 225 AD, the Shu general Chu Ko-liang is said to have used bronze drums to frighten 'savages' by placing them in torrents to produce the sound of military watchdrums at regular intervals.

[3][4][8][5] Although the British historians G E Harvey and D G E Hall had dismissed the Abhiraja origin of the Burmese people, the antiquity of Tagaung itself is not in dispute.

[4][9] Ptolemy, the Greek geographer, writing in 140 AD, mentions Tugma Metropolis believed to be Tagaung at a spot in Upper Burma.

[11] It was one of the 43 outposts established by King Anawrahta (1044–1077) of Bagan along the eastern foothills of the Shan plateau in defense of his realm, before he embarked on military expeditions west to Bengal and east to Nanchao.

Tagaung was also within easy reach of mineral resources such as silver from Namtu, rubies from Mogok, jade, copper and iron by the Meza and Uru rivers.

In the 1950s tens of thousands of cowries in Yunnan were found in tombs from the ancient past between the Warring States period (475 BCE–221 BCE) and the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE).

Archaeological excavations carried out at Tagaung had yielded Bronze Age drums, and also votive tablets connected to Anawrahta.

Seasonal lakes and swamps make it possible to grow winter rice called mayin in addition to other crops producing edible oils and coriander.