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ASI excavations: Call for report on decades of digs and display of artefacts | Hindustan Times
As the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) begins the fifth round of excavations at the ancient mound of Balirajgarh in Madhubani district, a growing chorus of historians and locals is demanding something far more basic than fresh digging: accountability for what has already been unearthed across Bihar.Formal launch of archaeological excavation at Kesaria in East Champaran in 2024 (HT FILE)The Balirajgarh site, long tied to legends of the Mithila kingdom and Raja Janak, has been explored four times before — beginning with the ASI’s first effort in 1962-63. Later campaigns in 1972-73, 1974-75 and 2013-14 turned up a massive 10-foot-wide boundary wall estimated to be 2,200 years old and northern black polished ware pottery that could push human activity here back 3,500 years. Yet no comprehensive report has ever been published, and the artefacts remain tucked away from public view.The ASI’s work does not stop at Balirajgarh. Over the decades it has led excavations at several of state’s most significant locations, including Jaffardih in Nalanda, where digs in 2006-07 uncovered Chalcolithic artefacts suggesting settlement as far back as 1400 BC — possibly the birthplace of Mahamoggallana, one of the Buddha’s foremost disciples. Other major ASI sites include Ghora Katora in Rajgir, Rukmini Sthan and Udyan in Nalanda, the sprawling monastic ruins of Vikramshila in Bhagalpur, Kolhua in Vaishali (famous for its Ashokan pillar and stupa), the brick stupa at Kesaria, Areraj in East Champaran, and Chirand in Saran. Each promised fresh chapters in the state’s layered past, yet most still await proper documentation and public display.Apart from the ASI’s efforts, the state archaeology directorate and its partner agencies — including the Bihar Virasat Samiti — have carried out their own excavations at more than a dozen sites over the past three decades. Among them are Telhara in Nalanda, where two phases of digging (2009-14 and 2020-22) revealed the ruins of a three-storey Buddhist university believed to pre-date the celebrated Nalanda Mahavihara. Other state-led explorations include Chechar in Vaishali, Salempur in Madhubani, Chandi Asthan in Saharsa, Jaya Mangala Garh in Begusarai, Chausa Garh in Buxar, and Devan Garh in Nawada. Artefacts recovered from these places have largely remained uncatalogued, with reports either incomplete or unpublished.Additional director general of the ASI, SK Manjul described the report-writing process as “cumbersome” but confirming that...
Prehistoric Burial Sites Unearthed in Mulugu
A team from the Department of Heritage, Government of Telangana, has identified a significant cluster of prehistoric burial sites in Mulugu district, following information provided by residents of...
Excavation Begins at Kurukkalmadam Mass Grave Linked to 1990 LTTE Killings
BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka — March 31, 2026 — Authorities have begun excavating a suspected mass grave in eastern Sri Lanka where the remains of more than 170 Muslim civilians — including pilgrims returning from Hajj — are believed to be buried, more than three decades after they were abducted and killed during the country's civil war. The court-ordered excavation is underway at ...
Excavation Begins at Kurukkalmadam Mass Grave Linked to 1990 LTTE Killings
According to testimony presented before multiple government-appointed commissions, the victims were traveling along the Kalmunai–Batticaloa road on July 12, 1990, when they were stopped and abducted by cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Among them were Muslim pilgrims returning from Mecca after completing the Hajj. They were later killed, and their bodies are believed to have been buried at or near the Kurukkalmadam site.
