Excavation Reports | Indian Archaeological Sites, Fieldwork, and Discoveries

The IJA has published a substantial number of excavation reports, ranging from preliminary season reports to comprehensive multi-period site analyses. Sites excavated span the Neolithic through the early medieval period, with a concentration in Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Bihar. Several international excavations (Sri Lanka, Iran) are also included.

Key Sites by Period

Neolithic

• Hetapatti (District Allahabad) - multi-culture mound; Neolithic through early medieval; virgin soil reached at 3.85 m; Neolithic hand-made pottery in lowest layers (layers 21–24)
• Tokwa (District Mirzapur) - Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Pre-NBPW, and NBPW phases; located at confluence of Belan and Adwa rivers

Chalcolithic

• Subulia (Middle Mahanadi Valley, Odisha) - Late Chalcolithic settlement with Black-and-Red Ware
• Agiabir (District Mirzapur) - Chalcolithic and later levels

Harappan / Bronze Age

• Khanak (District Bhiwani, Haryana) - Indus site in Tosham Hills
• Kanmer (Kachchh, Gujarat) - Harappan industrial site; drill-bit assemblage
• Alamgirpur (District Meerut, U.P.) - easternmost Harappan site; sequence 2600–2200 B.C. through PGW and early historical
• Masudpur (District Hisar, Haryana) - Cambridge–BHU survey and excavation of Harappan hinterland settlement

Iron Age / NBPW

• Naimisharanya (District Sitapur) - NBP levels at base; significant as a sacred site with continuous occupation; excavated by D.P. Tewari
• Hetapatti - NBPW levels (layers 11–18)
• Nindaur (Kaimur district, Bihar) - Iron Age cultural levels; strategic hilltop position

Early Historic

• Nalanda / Rukhaegarh (District Nalanda, Bihar) - investigated by G.K. Lama; Buddhist site
• Siyapur - excavated by international collaboration (Stanc & Tewari)
• Radhanagar (Odisha) - three-season excavation; identified with Mauryan provincial town of Toshali; Early Historic urban settlement
• Gambhirwa Tola (District Anuppur, M.P.) - Buddhist stupa remains and associated structures
• Tarighat and Jamraon (District Durg, Chhattisgarh) - Early Historical and medieval temple remains

Medieval / Historical

• Basadila Tilatar (District Gorakhpur) - wooden well (the ‘Kathkuiyan’); medieval and earlier levels
• Parabhadi / Sukhuapada (District Jajpur, Odisha, 2022–2023) - stupa and antiquities
• Barpali Asurgarh (Odisha) - three phases: Early Historic, Early Medieval, Late Medieval

Key Findings

1. Hetapatti stratigraphic sequence (Vol 1, No. 2): J.N. Pal’s excavation established one of the clearest long-sequence stratigraphies in north India: Neolithic → Chalcolithic → pre-NBPW → NBPW → Kushana → medieval, covering nearly the full range of the Gangetic cultural sequence.
2. Naimisharanya antiquity (Vol 1, No. 2): D.P. Tewari’s excavation demonstrates that this sacred site, celebrated in the Puranas and Mahabharata, has an archaeological sequence reaching back to the NBP period, grounding literary claims in excavated evidence.
3. Wooden well at Basadila (Vol 1, No. 3): Discovery of a wooden well from early levels demonstrates the antiquity of the wooden-well (Kathkuiyan) tradition preserved in local folk memory.
4. Alamgirpur sequence (Vol 8, No. 2): Proposes 2600–2200 B.C. for the Mature Harappan occupation; the sequence continues through Late Harappan, PGW, Early Historical, and Late Medieval, making it one of the longest continuous sequences in the Gangetic plain.
5. Radhanagar as Toshali (Vol 8, No. 1): Multi-season excavations allow the authors to identify this Odishan site as Mauryan Toshali, one of the provincial capitals mentioned in the Asokan edicts.
6. Buddhist finds at Gambhirwa Tola (Vol 7, No. 3): Identification of Buddhist stupa remains near Bandhavgarh forest extends the documented distribution of Buddhism into central India’s upland regions.