Archaeology

Topic: Studying Indian History: Sources, Dating and Historiography · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 4 "Timeline and Sources of History"; Class 6, Ch 6 "The Beginnings of Indian Civilisation"; Class 7, Ch 4 "New Beginnings: Cities and States"

Meaning

Archaeology is the study of the human past through the material remains people left behind. These include tools, pots, beads, figurines, bones, burnt grains and bricks dug out of the ground, along with buildings, sculptures, coins and inscriptions. It matters because it gives evidence for periods and people that written texts do not cover. For the Harappan cities, whose script has not been deciphered, archaeology is almost our only window.

Explanation

What an archaeologist studies

• An archaeologist studies what comes out of the ground: tools, pots, beads, figurines, bones, burnt grains and bricks.
• Digging (excavation) is the main method.
• Objects come out in layers of soil, one above the other.
• Lower layers are usually older. Upper layers are usually newer.

• So the layer an object lies in tells us its relative age: whether it is older or younger than other finds. It does not give an exact year.

• In 1868, Sir Alexander Cunningham wrote a memorandum (an official note) that defined archaeology as the study of architecture, sculpture, coins and inscriptions. [2]

• So archaeology is wider than digging alone. It covers standing monuments and written objects too.

Archaeology as one member of a team

• Archaeology works alongside other specialists:
• Geologist: soil, rivers and mountains. This tells us where stone for tools came from and why people settled at one spot.
• Palaeontologist: fossils (remains or impressions of plants, animals and humans preserved in rock or soil layers).
• Anthropologist: compares old objects with how living communities use similar tools and pots.

• Epigraphist: inscriptions. Numismatist: coins.

• The historian puts all these findings side by side and writes the full story.

• The jigsaw idea (Class 6, Ch 4):
• Archaeological finds may match a text, and then our confidence rises.
• They may clash with a text, and then the historian must choose which source to trust and say why.
• Some pieces are missing: wood, cloth and food rot away, and metal gets melted down. So every reconstruction has gaps.

New sciences inside archaeology (last ~50 years)

• Archaeo-botanists study charred (burnt) grains and seeds from a dig. These tell us which crops people grew and ate.
• Archaeo-zoologists (zoo-archaeologists) study animal bones.
• Cut marks show which animals were eaten.

• The types of bones show which animals were kept, hunted or used for work.

• Chemical analysis tests what a pot, bead or metal object is made of.

• This shows where the raw material came from.

• So it tells us who traded with whom.

• Ancient climate studies show past rainfall, river flow and dry spells. This helps explain why some settlements grew and others were abandoned.

• Archaeogenetics is the study of the DNA of ancient populations using molecular genetics.
• It suggests where groups of people came from and how they moved and mixed.
• The field is new, so its results keep changing as more samples are tested.

What archaeology has given Indian history

• Harappan cities: the Harappan script is still not deciphered, so our picture of these cities comes almost entirely from excavated remains. These include brick buildings, drains, seals, beads, pots and bones.
• Later cities (Second Urbanisation, Class 7, Ch 4): for the cities of the Ganga valley, texts already exist. Here excavation checks and adds to what the texts say.
• The problem changes over time:
• For the Harappan period, the historian has too few sources and depends on archaeology.
• For the last 2–3 centuries, newspapers appear, and electronic media appear in the last few decades. The problem then becomes too many sources.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: archaeology covers every age. It is most important for prehistory and the Harappan period, where there is no readable writing.
• Institution: the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was set up in 1861 by Sir Alexander Cunningham. [2][6]
• It was dissolved in 1865.

• It was revived as a separate department, with Cunningham as Director General from February 1871. [2][6]

• ASI today employs archaeologists, conservators, epigraphists, architects and scientists. [2]

• It works through Circles, Museums, Excavation Branches, a Prehistory Branch, Epigraphy Branches, a Science Branch, a Horticulture Branch, a Building Survey Project, Temple Survey Projects and an Underwater Archaeology Wing. [2]

• Evidence it handles: tools, pots, beads, figurines, bones, burnt grains, bricks, buildings, sculpture, coins and inscriptions.

• Archaeology and inscriptions working together: James Prinsep deciphered the Ashokan inscriptions in 1837. [3][4]
• Before that, Ashoka was known mainly from Buddhist texts: the Mahavamsa and Dipavamsa of Sri Lanka, and the Divyavadana and Ashokavadana. [4]
• The edicts were written in Brahmi, a script that appears fully formed in the 3rd century BCE. [5]

Don't confuse with

• Palaeontology: studies fossils of plants, animals and humans and fixes the very long timescale. Archaeology studies objects made or used by humans.
• Epigraphy: reads inscriptions (writing on stone, metal or pottery). Archaeology finds and dates the object. The epigraphist reads what it says.
• Numismatics: the study of coins only. Cunningham's 1868 definition placed coins inside archaeology, but in a matching question, numismatist = coins. [2]
• Anthropology: studies human societies from the oldest times to the present day, often among living people. Archaeology works mainly from excavated remains.

Prelims Hooks

• ASI was founded in 1861 by Sir Alexander Cunningham. It was dissolved in 1865 and revived with Cunningham as Director General from February 1871. [2][6]
• Cunningham's 1868 memorandum defined archaeology as the study of architecture, sculpture, coins and inscriptions. [2]
• Archaeo-botanist = charred grains and seeds. Archaeo-zoologist = animal bones. Archaeogenetics = ancient DNA studied through molecular genetics.
• An object's layer in an excavation gives its relative age, not an exact date.
• ASI's specialised units include a Prehistory Branch, a Science Branch and an Underwater Archaeology Wing. [2]
• Trap: James Prinsep (1837) deciphered the Ashokan inscriptions. Cunningham founded the ASI. Don't swap them. [3][2]

Mains Points

• Archaeology lets voiceless people into history.
• Texts mostly speak for kings and priests.
• Grains, bones, pots and houses show what ordinary people ate, made and traded.

• For the Harappans, whose script is unread, archaeology is the only way to study them. So any answer on early India that uses texts alone leaves out most of the evidence.

• Science widens the evidence but needs caution.

• Chemical analysis, climate studies and archaeogenetics answer questions about diet, trade and migration that texts cannot answer.

• DNA results depend on models that keep changing. They should support an argument, not settle it alone.

• Colonial roots shaped Indian archaeology.

• The ASI began under Cunningham in the colonial period. [2][6]
• Which sites were dug first, and which questions were asked, reflected the interests of that time.
• Modern Indian archaeology inherits both that infrastructure and its bias, so its findings, like every piece of the jigsaw, can be revised.

Related concepts

• Sources of history
• Numismatics
• Archaeo-botany
• Underwater archaeology
• Literary sources
• Oral tradition
• Hagiography
• Kalhana
• Rajatarangini
• Indica of Arrian

Read more

• Who reconstructs the past