Shrine find suggests Buddha may have been born two centuries earlier

The discovery of a previously unknown wooden structure at the Buddha's birthplace suggests the sage might have lived in the 6th century BC, two centuries earlier than thought, archeologists said.

Traces of what appears to have been an ancient timber shrine was found under a brick temple that is itself within Buddhism's sacred Maya Devi Temple at Lumbini, in southern Nepal near the Indian border.

In design it resembles the Asokan temple erected on top of it. Significantly, however, it features an open area, unprotected from the elements, from which it seems a tree once grew - possibly the tree where the Buddha was reputedly born.

"This sheds light on a very, very long debate" over when the Buddha was born and, in turn, when the faith that grew out of his teachings took root, said archaeologist Robin Coningham.

It is widely accepted that the Buddha was born beneath a hardwood sal tree at Lumbini as his mother Queen Maya Devi, the wife of a clan chief, was travelling to her father's kingdom to give birth. But much of what is known about his life and time has its origins in oral tradition, with little scientific evidence to sort out fact from myth.

Many scholars contend that the Buddha - who renounced material wealth to embrace and preach a life of enlightenment -lived and taught in the 4th century BC, dying at around the age of 80.