archaeologists led by Yoshinori Aboshi completed nine seasons of archaeological excavations in and around the Sravasti site, this time with carbon dating. They reported that the ancient city was surrounded by an earthen rampart with a circumference of about 5.2 kilometers, in a crescent shape (likely along the ancient river) and was spread over 160 hectares. In addition to the wider area, the Japanese team excavated much deeper layers than prior efforts. They report that the layers and items they uncovered from Sravasti are from 8th-century BCE through all of the 1st millennium CE, with large scale monastery construction after the Kushana Empire era. The 1986–1996 excavations efforts brought to light a previously unknown, large scale bathing tank (almost square in plan, about 25 meters on one side), another large caitya complex, four new stupas, and other monuments. It also yielded evidence that many Sravasti monuments suffered repeated damage from floods between the 1st and 10th-century, the residents of Sravasti attempted to rebuild some of the monuments several times. The later structures largely and increasingly followed a highly symmetric square plan architecture; for example, a later monastic complex had a square platform, with 28 vihara cells each 2.6 meter square. This structure was built from a mix of bricks and wood, and the excavation process discovered a thick layer of charcoal on top of this large platform. An analysis affirmed that this structure was burnt down, and thereafter completely abandoned by the monks as the combustion products were undisturbed. About 100 meters away from this burnt down site, they discovered another large caitya complex which was also covered with a thick layer of charcoal and combustion residue of the same age. Similar observations across many spots, separated by significant distances, suggests that the Buddhist monastic complexes of Sravasti were likely burnt down at the same time. Further, the carbon dating suggests that the structures in Sravasti were largely built from 1st-century CE through most of the Gupta period. The layers suggest that the monasteries and the city went through a period of stagnation and decline about the 5th century and then expanded again from 7th-century onwards through the 12th-century, then they were burnt down. The most important finds through the various excavations include: Buddhist stupas, monasteries and artwork dating through the 12th century, the stupa and vihara locations are mostly consistent with the Chinese pilgrimage records (the different Chinese pilgrims