Excavation At Vadnagar:
A joint study by the Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur) and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has found evidence of cultural continuity in Vadnagar, Gujarat, even after the Harappan collapse.
- The study challenges the notion of a “Dark Age” by providing evidence of cultural continuity in Vadnagar even after the collapse of the Harappan civilization.
- The study reveals evidence of a human settlement in Vadnagar dating back to as old as 800 BCE.
- This places the settlement in the late-Vedic/pre-Buddhist Mahajanapadas or oligarchic republics period.
- The rise and fall of different kingdoms over a 3,000-year period, as well as recurrent invasions by Central Asian warriors, are suggested to be driven by severe changes in climate, such as variations in rainfall or droughts.
- Vadnagar is described as a multicultural and multireligious settlement that included Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, and Islamic influences.
- The excavation uncovered seven cultural stages (periods), including Mauryan, Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian, Hindu-Solankis, Sultanate-Mughal, and Gaekwad-British colonial rule, up to the present day.
