Field Excavations at Antichak

Patna University published its long-awaited Antichak Excavation Report (1960-69), in the year 2005, long after the first phase of excavations were concluded in 1969. The Archaeological Survey of India which carried out the more detailed further  phase of the excavations from 1971-1981, too was not early when it published the Antichak Excavations-2 only in 2011, on the occasion of celebration of 150 years of the survey. But, nevertheless, the story of the longest excavation project in Bihar after Indian Independence has been well documented. Way back in the winters of 1960-61, the Department of Ancient Indian History and Archaeology, University of Patna, under Dr. B. P. Sinha and Dr. R.C.P. Singh, the then Field Director, commenced the historical excavations at Antichak, with three trial trenches in one of the mounds. The team was indeed lucky as just in the very first year of digging, the trenches not only revealed three structural phases of occupation, but most importantly, yielded a terracotta votive stupa from the middle phase bearing an inscription, Sri-Dharmadhara…devasya, in the late Pala script, suggesting the presence of a monastic establishment at the site, and thereby acknowledging to its excavators that they were on the right track.

To be continued....