Author: Jimmy Peterson
Publication: Topnews.com
Date: October 7, 2010
URL: http://topnews.com.sg/content/25293-archaeology-india-has-matured-sengupta
Gautam Sengupta, the director general of the
Archaeological Survey of India said on Wednesday that Archaeology in the country
has matured in its geographic expanse and the nature of questions it raises
in the last five decades.
He was speaking at the seventh convocation
ceremony of the Deccan College that awarded 66 students with P G Diploma and
M A and PhD degrees.
"The most significant development in
the domain of archaeology in India that happened in the post-independence
years was the academitisation of archaeology through the university system,"
he said.
He acknowledged the contributions made by
academicians like H D Sankalia, K G Goswami, K C Chattopadhyay and G R Sharma
to the discipline and expressed that the subjected matures after the academia
took active and cultivated interest in it.
The subject was initially related to descriptive
accounts supported by measured drawings and since has gone more complex in
nature. He pointed out the range of issues raised by the practitioners of
archaeology in the country and expressed that it shows that the discipline
has taken a large step ahead.
He believes that the Indian subcontinent can
offer new a new dimension to archaeological research with its diverse material
aspects and rich philosophical tradition however the archeology has to be
reinvented. Regarding the future of the discipline he said that the archeology
will become critical, interpretive, self-reflexive and holistic and will aim
to understand dimensions of human behavior in the past time and present.
