NEW DELHI: Four months after TOI highlighted how the Archaeological Survey of India had failed to preserve the 2,500-year-old cultural highlights at the excavations carried out in Purana Qila eight years ago, work to conserve them began on Monday. Purana Qila is the only historical site in Delhi that showcases continuous habitation from pre-Maurya times right up to the Mughal era.A shade is being put over to protect the site where many historical remains were dug out. The exhibits will be put on exhibition ahead of the G20 summit later in the year, said ASI officials. Till now, the trenches were filled with soil to protect the ancient structures.“The site, after being preserved and provided with a shade, will remain open for visitors who can witness the continuous history of Delhi,” said project director and spokesperson of ASI Dr Vasant Swarnkar, who added that further excavations to determine the earlier cultural level will also be conducted since the lowest level was not touched in the previous excavations.According to official ASI records, “Sher Shah Suri seems to have razed to the ground the city of Dinpanah built by Humayun. Later on an adjacent site, which was earlier perhaps the site of Indraprastha, capital of the Pandavas, he raised the citadel of Purana Qila, with the general town sprawling around it.”Swarnkar told TOI that a continuous habitation of 2,500 years at this ancient site has been established by the recent excavations. Further, evidence of chronological levels that predate the Mauryan period were also found, fortunately around the time when the excavations were being brought to an end.“We will probably be able to learn about painted grey ware with more certainty this time because the last excavation did not unearth them in the stratified layer, which technically establishes the presence of a culture,” said Swarnkar.The digging at Purana Qila, identified as the ancient settlement of Indraprastha, were conducted in 2013-14 and 2017-18 by ASI, quite a number of years after archaeologist BB Lal carried out the last excavations in 1969-73.Lal, who died last year, had claimed that Purana Qila was the Pandava kingdom of Indraprastha, estimating 900 BCE as the period of the Mahabharat war recounted in the epic. During excavations in 2014, traces of PGW were found at Purana Qila and confirmed the existence of pre-Mauryan links and to the iron age in another excavation at the site in 2017-18, conducted by Swarnkar .In the recent three excavations, a number of antiquities, ranging from terracotta beads and toys from the Mauryan period, terracotta Yakshi figurine of the Sunga period, terracotta votive tank and copper coins of the Kushan era, seals and coins of the Gupta years, different types of beads of coral, crystal and carnelian, glazed plates and coins of the Sultanate period and Chinese porcelain with Chinese inscription, glass wine bottles and a gold earring from the Mughal times were discovered.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/asi-to-conserve-2500-year-old-cultural-deposits-at-purana-qila/articleshow/97039497.cms
