Author: Correspondent
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: May 14, 2009
URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090514/jsp/siliguri/story_10954127.jsp
Seventy years after excavation began at Bangarh,
the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) claims to have unearthed artefacts
that date back to eight periods of Indian history starting from 500BC.
The superintendent of the ASI's Calcutta circle,
Tapan Jyoti Baidya, said the artefacts dated back to the pre-Mauryan, Mauryan,
Sunga, Kushana, Gupta, post-Gupta and the Pala period. "Even there are
evidences of remains belonging to the Muslim rule in India."
The excavation by the ASI's Calcutta circle
began in February and its first phase was completed on May 10. Yesterday,
Baidya revealed the findings at a media conference at Bangarh, 45km from here.
The district magistrate of South Dinajpur, Ashok Kumar Banerjee, and the superintendent
of police, Swapan Banerjee Purnapatra, were present.
Baidya said Bangarh, spread over 1,200 acres,
had thrown up a rich historical past in just three months of excavation at
the site located on the banks of the Punarbhaba. "The constructions here
were 2,500 years old. We have verified the artefacts found here with those
from other sites (of the same period) to come to our conclusions."
The ASI, which is currently working on 400
acres of the site, will renew its investigations after the monsoons and resume
excavations in November, Baidya said. "This is a very significant site
as far as the ancient history of India is concerned. All these years, they
have been lying buried deep in the ground," he added.
Coins, stone idols, seals pieces of pottery
and utensils used by the ancients and ornaments have been collected from the
site. "The artefacts and the writing on the seals are so typical of the
periods we have mentioned that it is easy to put a stamp to them. This place
will give new insight into the history of the old civilisations. We have also
evidences that Bangarh had links with the ancient Greeks and other European
civilisations," Baidya said.
The excavation in Bangarh was started in 1938
by a team from Calcutta University led by noted historian K.B. Goswami and
the work continued till 1941. During that time, Mauryan seals were found.
In 2007, the ASI's Patna circle took up the digging but carried it out only
for two months.
"We have unearthed 14 towers and also
found the evidence of an elaborate drainage system as well as a water supply
system. A unique town lay under this place," Baidya said.
The ASI also plans to construct a museum and
a garden on a plot of five acres in Bangarh for showcasing the artefacts found
at the site.
The district magistrate said the revelation
would bring historians and researchers to the area and boost the tourism potential.
The secretary of the Bangarh Archaeology Society,
Partha Sarathi Moitra, said artefacts were found throughout the district whenever
a place or pond was dug up. "It shows that the entire area has a number
of places of historical and mythological importance. If all these areas are
developed, it will be a tourist circuit."
