Archaeologists find skeletons of immigrants, hints of brutal violence.
They lived in well-planned cities, made exquisite jewelry, and enjoyed the ancient world’s best plumbing. But the people of the sophisticated Indus civilization—which flourished four millennia ago in what is now Pakistan and western India—remain tantalizingly mysterious.
Unable to decipher the Indus script, archaeologists have pored over beads, slivers of pottery, and other artifacts for insights into one of the world’s first city-building cultures.
Now scientists are turning to long-silent witnesses: human bones. In two new studies of skeletons from Indus cemeteries, researchers have found intriguing clues to the makeup of one city’s population—and hints that the society there was not as peaceful as it has been portrayed. Read more.
MADURAI: A group of archaeologists has found a 1,200-year-old Mahaveer statue on the Amaravathi riverbed in Dindigul.
The group members — Archaeology Survey of India (ASI) officials K Moortheeswari, V Narayanamoorthy and historian Raja — said the statue was made of a polished white granite stone and was in a good condition. The statue is five feet in height and four feet in width. There are three lions on the ‘peedam’ or stage on which Mahaveer is sitting and two serpents are seen on both sides. He is surrounded by his guardians, Mathangar on the left and Sithayika on the right.
A Jain school is said to have flourished here about 1,000 years ago, but it is not still clear whether the statue had any significance with the school. (source)
BERHAMPUR: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) may take up maintenance of the 300-year-old Biranchi Narayan temple at Ganjam’s Buguda. The temple, shaped like a chariot drawn by seven horses, is famous for its wood carvings and murals.
The state government had proposed to ASI to declare Biranchi Narayan temple and a group of temples at Ranipur Jharial in Balangir district as protected monuments. “Further action will be initiated on receipt of a detailed proposal from the state government,” Union minister of culture Chandresh Kumari Katoch had replied in a letter to Rajya Sabha member Renubala Pradhan.
Pradhan had advocated ASI protection for the temple for its historical, archaeological and artistic importance. “The wood carvings in the temple were first-of-its-kind in the state,” Read more.
New Delhi: Explorers claim they have evidence of a 2,500-year-old planned city—complete with water reservoirs, roads, seals and coins—buried in Chhattisgarh, a discovery that is being billed as the nation’s biggest archaeological find in at least half a century.
In a surprising find that may throw more light on the dynasties that ruled Karnataka, two sets of copper-plate charters and eight gold coins have been discovered at Pranaveswara temple at Talagunda in Shirkaripur taluq of Shimoga district by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Bangalore Circle.
While the copper plates, datable to the 12 century CE, belong to the Kalachurya dynasty, the gold coins were issued by the Ganga rulers, who held sway in the State from the 4th century CE to the 12 century CE.
The gold coins belong to the “Ane Gadyana” variety, portraying elephants on the obverse and floral designs on the reverse. They weigh around four grams each. Ganga ruler Sivamara-I (regnal years 679 CE to 726 CE) issued three of them. Read more.
Its remains rest almost unnoticeable near the small village of Rakhigarhi in northwest India. On the surface, its most visible features consist of well-ordered mounds of cow dung cakes, nature’s fertilizer for the present-day local villagers’ farming operations. Ox carts routinely transport their agricultural supplies over its ancient mounds and into the fields every day.
Below the surface, however, lay an expansive network of ruins and artifacts that would betray an ancient city that would rival, and likely exceed, the enormity of the Indus Valley civilization’s best known archaeological site, Mohenjo-Daro. At 224 hectares, it is the largest known Harrapan (Indus Civilization) site in India. Read more.
RANCHI - Archaeologists have stumbled upon a number of antiquities, including Buddha stupas, belonging to the 9th century AD at Itkhori in Jharkhand’s Chatra district.
In their first excavation exercise this year, the archaeologists found 58 antiquities, including four Buddha stupas, at Itkhori, N.G Nikoshey, Superintending Archaeologist (Ranchi Circle) of the Archaeological Survey of India, said.
“Among the discoveries made were Buddha statues in various mudras and Boddhisatva deities dedicated to Buddhism.
Antiquities belonging to the Jainism and Hinduism were also found during the excavation,” he said.
The mound, where the objects are found, is spread across 500x150 metres and date back to the 9th and 10th centuries Pala period, he explained.
While 58 antiquities were kept with the department, the villagers kept about 400 antiquities under a shed there refusing to hand them over. Read more.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site known as Elephanta Caves dates back between the 4th and 9th centuries AD. The caves themselves lie about 7 km from the shore of Elephanta Island, originally named Gharapuri/city of caves. The island lies about 11 km north-east of Apollo Bunder in Mumbai, India. Carved out of solid rock, the Elephanta caves feature some of the most impressive statues of Lord Shiva, in his various forms and avatars. Lord Shiva is a major Hindu deity and considered to be the most powerful god in Hinduism.
To see this ancient monumental art is, for many, a visual odyssey. Except during the monsoons, the ferries leave from the Gateway of India beginning around 9 am in the morning, transporting thousands of tourists who come to Mumbai to explore the historical site.
The sculptures in these caves are considered representative of ancient art forms – especially that of the Chalukyan empire and the Gupta kingdom. Read more.
