Oldest City In India? 2,800-Year-Old Human Settlement Found In PM Modi's Hometown Vadnagar
In Gujarat's Vadnagar, native village of PM Narendra Modi, remnants of a human settlement dating back 2,800 years have been found.?
The evidence of a colony as ancient as 800 BCE in Vadnagar has been uncovered by researchers from IIT Kharagpur, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and Deccan College.?
Vadnagar is known for its decadent history as a multi-cultural and multi-religious community, with influences from Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, and Islamic traditions.
The ongoing excavation work in Vadnagar, initiated in 2016, has revealed seven distinct cultural stages at the site, as Dr Anindya Sarkar, Professor of Geology and Geophysics at IIT Kharagpur, reported.?
These findings provide valuable insights into the diverse cultural and historical layers of Vadnagar, highlighting its significance as a hub of civilization throughout the centuries.
What has been found in?Vadnagar?
According to a statement by IIT Kharagpur, the examination of deep archaeological excavation at Vadnagar shows that the ascent and decline of various kingdoms over 3,000 years, as well as repeated invasions of India by Central Asian warriors, were influenced by significant changes in climate, such as rainfall or droughts.
Excavation in Vadnagar's deep trenches revealed seven cultural stages: Mauryan, Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian, Hindu-Solankis, Islamic, and Gaekwad-British colonial rule and the city continues to live on till today.
One of the oldest Buddhist monasteries has also been discovered during the excavation, the statement said.
"We found characteristic archaeological artefacts, potteries, copper, gold, silver and iron objects and intricately designed bangles. We also found coin moulds of Greek king Appollodatus during the Indo-Greek rule at Vadnagar," explained Abhijit Ambekar, an ASI archaeologist and co-author of the paper who led the excavation between 2016 and 2018.
Ambekar stated that the evidence collected by their team indicates that Vadnagar is the oldest living city in India, with a single fortification uncovered so far.
Significance of discoveries in?Vadnagar
Vadnagar is unique as it holds a record of early historic to medieval archaeology with precise chronology, which has not been discovered elsewhere in India.
IIT Professor Rs Sarkar suggests that recent radiocarbon dates show the settlement could be as old as 1400 BCE, indicating cultural continuity in India for the last 5,500 years and disputing the existence of a so-called Dark Age.
According to Dr Sarkar, the earliest settlement period in Vadnagar dates back to at least 800 years BCE, during the early Iron Age or the Late Vedic period, before Buddhism and Jainism. This period lasted through the Mauryan rule and ended with its fall around 150 years BCE. After the decline of the Gupta Empire, there was a significant reduction in urbanization, the drying up of water bodies, famines, and a contraction in population across India.
He further elaborated that during the last 2,200 years of tumultuous time of Indian history, there were seven invasions from central Asia to India (including Gujarat), imprints of which can also be found in the successive cultural periods of Vadnagar.
"Our isotope data and dates of the cultural periods at Vadnagar suggest that all these invasions happened precisely when the agrarian Indian subcontinent was prosperous with stronger monsoon but central Asia was extremely dry and uninhabitable with recurrent droughts from where almost all the invasions and migrations happened," he explained.
All about the study in?Vadnagar
The excavation in Vadnagar was conducted under the leadership of ASI. The study was funded by the Directorate of Archaeology & Museums, Government of Gujarat. This organization has been entrusted with the task of building India's first experiential digital museum in Vadnagar. The term 'experiential' refers to the process of learning through experience.
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) excavated at Vadnagar, located in Western India, between 2016 and 2023.?The excavation work at the site reached a depth of 20 meters.?
According to Archaeological Supervisor Mukesh Thakor, more than 100,000 remains have been discovered so far, and about 30 sites have been evacuated.?
The research findings have been published in a paper called 'Climate, human settlement, and migration in South Asia from Early historic to medieval period: evidence from new archaeological excavation at Vadnagar, Western India' in the Elsevier journal 'Quaternary Science Reviews'.?
The research work at Vadnagar and Indus Valley civilization received funding support from Sudha Murthy, the former Chairperson of Infosys Foundation.
(With inputs from agencies)
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