Centre for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research

Vision

CIAR aspires to inaugurate an era of exciting and successful cooperation among various categories of research workers in the university. The idea is faculty-driven and is a consequence of a sustained and serious conversations between historian-archaeologists and biologists. With the core emphasis on interdisciplinary research, the seed of this idea could only be planted at Ashoka which provides the ideal institutional space for an interface between archaeology and the sciences. CIAR represents true integration of high-quality research and education at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. This is a novel platform that will meld the research interests of the humanities scholars with the science faculty with the primary goal of investigating and teaching the Indian past.

Call for Applications: Centre for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research

Centre for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research at Ashoka University invites applications for a full-time faculty position at the level of Tenure-track Assistant Professor in Archaeology.

Ashoka University has established a Centre for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research (CIAR) which aims to create a state-of-the-art facility that brings archaeology and the sciences to deepen the study of the Indian past. For a nation with an abundance of archaeological riches that can throw light on a range of issues that are of contemporary significance, it is of utmost importance to break the silos and enable cross-talks between science and history/archaeology departments.

Ashoka Fellowships in Ancient and Medieval Indian History/Archaeology

With the generous funding from Anupa Sahney the Centre for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research (CIAR) of Ashoka University invites qualified scholars to apply for fellowships in ancient and medieval Indian history/archaeology. These are aimed at encouraging field research, interdisciplinary collaboration, and documentation of archaeological remains, museum collections, manuscripts, vernacular writings, and archives. 

Foray into the forest: Bandhavgarh National Park and its Archaeology

Bandhavgarh National Park is known for its lush biodiversity and its famed resident- the Royal Bengal tiger, and for that reason, is one of the crown jewels of Madhya Pradesh. With a core area of 105 sq. km and a buffer area of about 400 sq. km, it was declared a national park in 1968 and became a tiger reserve in 1993. The Tala segment of Bandhavgarh, the locale of our archaeological exploration, is a tapestry of two high forest clad hills Bandhavgarh and Bandheini, among stretches of flatlands with extensive meadows. The Bandhavgarh hill dominates the landscape with its rectangular plateau on the summit marked by a medieval hill-fort giving it the name. The forest here is a moist tropical deciduous one, dominated by Sal trees, bamboo clumps, and other varieties ranging from woody ficus to the gnarly Indian frankincense.

Sonipat – Sites and Sights

What is it about Sonipat and its surrounding areas that speaks of its history? And how does one sight the sites where this is inscribed? With the aim of exploring old places there, Ashoka University’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research commenced a survey in February 2023.

The Harappan City of Rakhigarhi

The archaeological site of Rakhigarhi is one of the oldest and largest cities of the subcontinent’s earliest known Bronze Age urban culture—the Indus Valley or Harappan Civilization—located in the Hissar district of Haryana, approximately 150 kms from our campus. This site, protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), is currently under excavation by the Institute of Archaeology, New Delhi. Rakhigarhi constitutes one of the only two cities of the Harappan Era (6th millennium–1900 BC) situated within India’s current political boundary, the other being Dholavira in Gujarat. The exploration around this site has clearly identified seven archaeological mounds spread over an area of approximately 350 ha. However, recently, archaeologist Professor Vasant Shinde has argued that the site of Rakhigarhi is comprised of 11 mounds, which would thus make it the largest known Harappan site. Rakhigarhi primarily yields evidence of occupation during the Early and Mature Harappan periods with the site being completely abandoned during the Late Harappan period, and people who had lived at this site for thousands of years moving away to a new location, which remains unidentified. This means that the large mounds that are currently visible at Rakhigarhi were formed in the course of 700 or 800 years of Mature Harappan occupation. Rakhigarhi is also well-known as the site which has yielded the only DNA evidence from the Harappan era [https://www.science.org/content/article/genome-nearly-5000-year-old-woman-links-modern-indians-ancient-civilization].

Field Report of an oxbow lake in Sersa, Haryana

This field report investigates the possibility of an oxbow lake in Sersa, Haryana. It provides satellite and on-site evidence for the lake’s existence. Oxbow lakes are formed when a river meanders and a part of it separates from the stream of the river to form a ‘U’ shaped curve. In the Gangetic Plain of Northern India, the perennial rivers are susceptible to the phenomenon of oxbow lakes, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana1. In Uttar Pradesh, such lakes have prehistoric settlements in their vicinity. This cannot be confirmed in the case of Sersa but in the future, it is worth exploring for assessing its archaeological potential. The team for the reconnaissance consisted of Aneesh Sriram, Saketh Sundar and Tejas Nageshwaran of Ashoka University.

Research papers of Ashoka Fellows 2022-23

Delve into a curated collection of thought-provoking works penned by our distinguished Ashoka Fellows. The papers showcase the diversity of their expertise, focusing on two papers centered around the religious landscape of Kurukshetra since ancient times and two papers centred around ancient settlements in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Spirit of Conservation: the Case of Mangar Bani

This field report has been written by Jatin Abhir.

On 21st October, 2023, a field trip to Mangar Bani was organised for students enrolled in the courses The Jungle, the Spade and the Book and Archaeology and Science. This fieldwork was intended to introduce us to the kind of evidence one can encounter while attempting to write a history of forests and wilderness. The group was led by Prof. Nayanjot Lahiri, and upon reaching the forest, we were joined by forest researchers Chetan Agarwal and Sunil Harsana, the latter of whom was born and raised in Mangar, a village adjacent to the sacred forest. Both of them have for decades laboured to defend Mangar from corporate encroachment and have extensively documented the flora and fauna of the region. 

Revisiting the “Mahadevian"

A Typo-technological Reanalysis of the Lithic Assemblages of Mahadeo Piparia, Central Narmada Basin, Madhya Pradesh, India

Mahadeo Piparia, an open-air Palaeolithic site, is considered as a possible Mode 1 techno-complex. It is the type-site for the “Mahadevian” pebble-tool complex, a possible root for an indigenous evolution of the South Asian Acheulean tradition. Later work suggested a secondary and mixed context for the assemblage, including elements from a pebble-tool complex, a handaxe complex and the “Middle Stone Age”.