Archaeologists and researchers are all set to take off for the season-2 of the Chandrawati Archaeological Research Project at AbuRoad in Sirohi district expected to begin from January 11.

The project is a joint venture of Department of Archaeology and Museums and JRN Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Udaipur.

The second phase exploration would continue till the mid of February. The first season which culminated in February last year had unearthed ruins depicting the glory of the 1000-year-old Parmar dynasty.

Chandrawati,is a village spread over 150 bigha in Sirohi district. It was the well known capital of the Arbud branch of the Parmars. The debris of the ancient city is believed to be spread in a circumference of about 32 kilometers including the areas of Amirgarh, Maval, Siyava, Santpur, Moongthala and Paldi. This had been the first excavation after 20 years by the state government.

The archaeologists had discovered a fort and large number of residential structures inside. Several metals, terracotta and stone objects were unearthed. “We had set off for the digging after intensive ground survey work and had got encouraging details to reveal a lot about the ancient town which had been lost in the pages of history, Prof Jeevan Kharakwal, director of the research project said.

“This season we are planning to continue the work we initiated last time in order to understand earlier cultural phases, possibly belonging to late historical phase. In addition to this, we plan to undertake cutting at a very high mound to understand the nature of deposit” the in charge held.

Scholars from BSIP Lucknow, Deccan College, and other universities will be participating in the excavation.

“The settlement has perhaps four fortified enclosures, out of which one is visible on the surface. Another one we discovered last season. There are two more of these we plan to open the bigger one this season apart from lower levels of the settlement,” Kharakwal said.

A total station team to prepare contour map of the site has been hired by the department which will be ready by next week. The major objective of the excavation is to understand cultural sequence, expansion and function of the ancient town. Besides, it also aim to understand contemporary climate, subsistence and varied technologies.

As this ancient site is located on the foothill of Mt. Abu it may attract large number of tourists and scholars to the site after the project. Members of the team in the second phase includes Vineet Godhal, Krishnakanta Sharma, K. P. Singh, Narayan Paliwal, Rohit Menaria, Hitesh Bunkar, Prakash Dangi, Verma, and students of Archaeology of Rajasthan Vidyapeeth.

Contributed by: Geetha Sunil Pillai