Why This PageIn the west there is a long tradition of writing biographies of famous people. We have read stories about Schliemann's search for Troy, about Rawlinson copying the ancient Persian hieroglyphics while suspended over a rock face at Bahishtun, or how Champollion deciphered the ancient Egyptian texts from the Rosetta stone while the French revolution raged all around him. (See, for example, "God, Graves and Scholars" by C. W. Ceram) By contrast, most of us don't even know the names of famous Indian archaeologists, let alone their achievements. And this, inspite of the fact that in many ways, the study of historical linguistics and of many aspects of archaeology started in India. Hence this Page. I am attempting to included the names and brief biographies of Famous Indian Archaeologists on this page. Much information can be gleaned from journals like Man and Environment, Puratattva, and others listed in the sources. Archaeology is a fascinating subject, and personal narratives and anecdotes make the subject come alive.
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In the course of his long academic career, Prof. D.P.Agrawal has worked with the Archaeological Survey of India, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay and Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad. His research contributions have been varied and multi-disciplinary – mainly in the fields of palaeoenvironment, prehistoric archaeology, radiocarbon & TL dating, archaeometallurgy, India’s contributions to the world of science and technology and Traditional Knowledge Systems. His main areas of work have been: Kashmir, Central Himalayas and Rajasthan. He has been as a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, U. S. A. and also at the International Research Center at Kyoto, Japan. He has published 15 books and about 250 papers. Currently (2004) he is Director of a research project on Traditional Knowledge Systems, based in Almora, Uttaranchal.
Date of Birth:12 April 1885, Died: 30 May 1930
Place of Birth: Berhampore, Murshidabad Dist. W. Bengal, India
First Excavator of Mohenjo Daro
Ph. D. Thesis: Ajanta, A Cultural Study.
Sites Excavated:M. A. Thesis Title 'Saiva Mythology as represented on Ancient Indian Terracota Seals and Coins'.
Sources:
1. Puraratna - Emerging Trends in Archaeology, Art, Anthropology ...Source:
Puratattva, vol. 13 & 14, 1983 & 1984 is a commemorative volume on Shri Lal's retirement. It has a small (I mean, very small - about a page and a half) biodata of Shri B. B. Lal.Dr. Misra is a National Fellow of the Indian Council of Historical Research and the former Director of the Deccan College postgraduate and research Institute (Deemed University), Pune. He has been engaged in archaeological and ethnographic research for the last forty years. He has excavated pre-historic sites of Tilwara, Bagor and Didwana in Rajasthan and Bhimbetka and Samnapur in Madhya Pradesh. For five years he directed excavations at the Chalcolithic site of Balathal in Udaipur District of Rajasthan. Professor Mishra has authored / edited six books and published over a hundred research papers. He is associated in various capacities with a number of national and international academic organizations and reputed journals. He has been the driving force and the Editor of Man and Environment, the journal of the Indian Society for Prehistoric and Quaternary Studies.
Appointments and Honors:
Formerly Professor and Director, Deccan College, Pune. National Fellow, Indian Council of Historical Research,
President, Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, Canberra, Australia 1985-1988
Research: (A) In India: (a) Archaeology (i) Archaeological explorations and geological investigations Conducted following major explorations: 1. 1958-61. Valleys of the Chambal, Banas and Luni rivers and their tributaries in several districts of Rajasthan, and discovered nearly 70 Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites. 2. 1962-64. Valleys of the Berach river and its tributaries in Udaipur and Chittaurgarh districts of Rajasthan, and discovered nearly 30 Stone Age and Chalcolithic sites. 3. 1966. Explored several Copper Hoard and Painted Grey Ware sites in Farrukhabad, Hardoi and Sahajahanpur districts of Uttar Pradesh. 4. 1966-67. Explorations of Stone Age, Harappan and Chalcolithic sites in north Gujarat and Luni Valley in south Rajasthan. 5. 1977-81. Explorations in Sirohi, Pali, Ajmer, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Jaisalmer, Barmer and Jalor districts of Rajasthan, and discovered a number of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites, and carried out investigation of Tertiary and Quaternary geological deposits. In addition, participated in the following explorations conducted under the direction of the late Prof. H.D. Salnkalia: 1. 1960. Participated in the exploration in coastal Bombay 2. 1965. Participated in the prehistoric expedition in the Narmada Valley. (ii) Excavations Conducted excavations at the following archaeological sites: 1. 1967. Mesolithic Site of Tilwara, District Barmer, Rajasthan 2. 1968-70. Mesolithic Site of Bagor, District Bhilwara, Rajasthan 3. 1973-77. Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Site of Bhimbetka, District Raisen, Madhya Pradesh 4. 1981-85. Palaeolithic Sites of Jayal and Didwana, District Nagaur, Rajasthan 5. 1986-90. Palaeolithic Sites of Devakachar and Samnapur, District Narsinghpur, Madhya Pradesh 6. 1994-2000. Chalcolithic and Early Historic Site of Balathal, District Udaipur, Rajasthan In addition, participated in following excavations conducted under the direction of the late Prof. H.D. Sankalia: 1. 1959, 1960. Chalcolithic Site of Navdatoli , Nimar district, Madhya Pradesh 2. 1964. Neolithic Site of Sangankallu, Bellary district, Karnataka 3. 1964. Neolithic Site of Tekkalakota, Bellary district, Karnataka 4. 1965. Early Historic Site of Tripuri, Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh (i) Museum studies 1. 1962. Examined all the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Harappan collections in the Indian Museum, Calcutta (j) Anthropology Conducted ethnographic studies on the following hunting-gathering, pastoral and agricultural communities: 1. 1977-85. Banjaras, a pastoral community in Nagaur district, Rajasthan 2. 1977-85. Bhils, a hunting-gathering and agricultural community in Nagaur district, Rajasthan 3. 1978-85. Van Vagris, a hunting-gathering community in Nagaur district, Rajasthan 4. 1986-91. Kanjars, a hunting-gathering community in Farrukhabad district, Uttar Pradesh 5. 1987-90. Pardhis, a hunting-gathering community in Narsinghpur and Damoh districts, Madhya Pradesh 6. 1987-90. Kuchbandhias, a hunting-gathering community in Narsinghpur and Damoh districts, Madhya Pradesh 7. 1981-2000. Kalbeliyas, a hunting-gathering community in Jodhpur, Bhilwara and Udaipur districts, Rajasthan 8. 1982. Carried out a study of the funerary structures and associated rituals of the Maria Gonds, a hunting-gathering and agricultural community of Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh (B) Abroad 1. 1969. Studied Mesolithic material in the Colombo Museum and visited excavated Mesolithic sites of Batadomba-lena, Balangoda, Beli-lena Kitulagala and Bellan-bandi Palassa and the Historical sites of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruva and Kandy in Sri Lanka. 2. 1970. Participated in the excavation of the Mousterian site of Pech de l'Aze in France. 3. 1970. Studied Stone Age cultural materials in a number of museums and research centres and visited many prehistoric sites and excavations in Israel, Italy, France, Germany, the UK, The Netherlands, Denmark and Czechoslovakia. 4. 1971. Studied Stone Age collections and visited a number of archaeological sites in the States of Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania in Australia. 5. 1977. Studied Stone Age and ethnographic collections in a number of museums in Canberra, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth and visited the Stone Age sites on Willandra fossil lakes in New South Wales in Australia. 6. 1984. Collected data on prehistory and human evolution in the libraries at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. 7. 1990. Visited a large number of Stone Age and Historical sites in many parts of Sri Lanka and examined Stone Age collections in the Colombo Museum.
Head of the Department of Ancient Indian History and Archaeology of Patna University from 1959 to 1981.
Founder of the Bihar State Archaeology and Museums Department.
Director of the K. P. Jaiswal Research Institute.
Member of the Central Board of Advisors to the Archaeological Survey of India
Discovered the ancient Vikramshila University in Bhagalpur,
and the famous neolithic site at Chirand in Bihar.
Former Additional Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India, was among the noted archaeologists and art-historians of India. He has to his credit several excavations of sites from the Harappan to the early historic period. He is well known for his deep Sanskrit learning, Agamic lore and epigraphy and has published about twenty books on special areas like prehistory and post-history, megalithic culture, temple architecture and iconography, besides about four hundred research papers. He is the recipient of the State award for outstanding field studies in Karnataka and a Member of the Consultative Committee of UNESCO Project on the port-cities of the Indian Ocean region.
Former Director of the Post-Graduate Research Centre of the Karnataka University at Bijapur. He was formerly Professor and Head of the Department of History and Archaeology of the Karnataka University, Dharwad and Director, Karnataka State Department of Archaeology and Museums. He is well known for his excavations of some prehistoric, especially megalithic sites in the Karnataka region. He is the author of several books and has published many research papers in this field.
Date of Birth: 4th May 1919 - Died: 1988. Place of Birth: Neemuch (M. P.)
Recipient of "Padmashree" award in 1975.
Dr. Wakankar discovered and studied more than 4000 rock caves in India, pushing the dates of Indian artistic activities back to 40,000 years ago. He also discovered rock shelter paintings in Europe and America.
Interview with Wakankar by K. L. Kamat
Sources:
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