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Regional Surveys | Indian Archaeological Landscapes, Sites, and Field Reports

Regional surveys and gazetteers form one of the strongest documentary strands in the IJA corpus, mapping archaeological landscapes at district, river-valley, hill-region, and sacred-geography scales. These papers connect isolated finds to settlement systems, route networks, water sources, craft zones, ritual landscapes, and long-term cultural sequences across Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Kashmir, Assam, Manipur, Haryana, Sri Lanka, and other regions.

Key Landscapes

Upper Ganga and Doab districts - Sitapur, Aligarh, Hathras, Maharajganj, Kannauj, and the Karmanasa valley are documented through gazetteers and reconnaissance surveys, with special emphasis on ochre-colour-pottery, medieval monuments, and early historic settlement.
Odisha river valleys - Suktel, Middle Mahanadi, Sundar, Dulung, Harihar Jor, and Khadga studies show Odisha as a recurring laboratory for prehistoric, chalcolithic, fortified, and early historic settlement archaeology.
Kashmir and Himalayan regions - Surveys in Awantipora, Narvaw, Ahan, Ichnad, Kargil, and the Kashmir Valley connect settlement evidence with sacred-geography, temple-architecture, and prehistoric-lithics.
Assam and Manipur - Brahmaputra valley, Kamarupa, Hajo, and Manipur papers combine archaeology with textual geography, ethnography, migration, and religious history.
Sri Lankan landscapes - Anuradhapura-region work around Ihala Kalawellā Ulpatha extends the corpus beyond India while remaining methodologically close to Indian survey practice.

Key Findings

Gazetteers preserve dispersed evidence: The Sitapur, Maharajganj, Aligarh-Hathras, and Kannauj studies show the value of district-level documentation for objects, mounds, temples, inscriptions, coins, and oral traditions that otherwise remain outside formal excavation reports.
River valleys structure settlement: Odisha and Uttar Pradesh surveys repeatedly use river basins as archaeological units, demonstrating how resource zones and mobility corridors organise prehistoric and early historic settlement.
OCP mapping depends on survey: Aligarh-Hathras and Barood Khera data are central to linking copper-hoards with ochre-colour-pottery sites in the Upper Ganga plain.
Sacred landscapes overlap archaeological ones: Chitrakoot, Kamarupa, Hajo, Nalanda, and Kashmir surveys show that sacred geography preserves older settlement memory, pilgrimage routes, and temple clusters.
Northeastern archaeology is increasingly prominent: Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, and Tripura articles broaden the corpus from monument and object catalogues toward migration, oral tradition, craft knowledge, sacred stones, and cultural landscapes.

Vol 1, No. 2

Archeological Gazetteer of District Sitapur (Part-1)

Vijay Kumar

Regional Surveys | Indian Archaeological Landscapes, Sites, and Field Reports

Key Landscapes

Key Findings

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