Archaeology: An Introduction

The Gazetteer of India, Madhya Pradesh, Raipur district^[1] (Bhopal, 1973) states that:

Though now an insignificant small village Sirpur, or Sripura of the ancient epigraphic records, is one of the most interesting and important places from the point of view of history and archaeology. It was certainly a considerable large city in ancient times as clear from very extensive remains of ancient buildings scattered over a vast area.

The Gazetteer further notes that:

The history of Sripura (the city of wealth) dates back to a period ranging between the fifth and eighth century A.D. It was the then capital of MahaKosala or Chhattisgarh. It has seen the rise and fall of dynasties known as Sharabhapuriya (Amararyakula of the Mallar copper plate) and Pandu of the lunar race (Somavamsi), chronologies of which are controversial. However, extensive remains, mainly of the temples, reveal the glory that was Sripura or Sirpur. There are several copper plate grants duly inscribed and issued from Sripura by kings of these dynasties. It may be generally stated that they belonged to the period earlier than the ninth century.

In the present dissertation, we adopt the parameters of grouping of archaeological materials (which are also sources) which can be utilized for the reconstruction of history under the following heads as prescribed in the Gazetteer of India, II, p. xv, ed. P.N. Chopra, New Delhi, 1973):

(i) material derived from excavations and surface-exploration of abandoned sites,
(ii) inscriptions
(iii) coins
(iv) Standing monuments and sculptures of diverse materials.

All these varieties, except coins which are a few in number, are available in plenty measure assignable to the period of our investigation (A.D. 650-800).

Going by the above classifications, items No. (i) and (iv), i.e., excavation, exploration, standing monuments and sculptures of diverse materials–usually referred to as ‘archaeology’ in common people’s parlance-as well as ‘inscriptions’ have a hugely vast corpus of them discovered at Sirpur in different phases of excavation and exploration. It may be arranged chronologically from the last quarter of 19^th century A.D. till date in three phases.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

p. 567.