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Exploring the forest and mapping its archaeology: Bandhavgarh National Park and Tiger Reserve, India


Affiliations
1 The Centre for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research, Ashoka University, Sonepat 131 029, India
2 School of Humanities, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru 560 012, India
3 Department of History, Ashoka University, Sonepat 131 029, India
 

The archaeology of historical India has usually been perceived through the lens of cities and states, leaving forest tracts to a large extent unexamined. This article considers the historical signature in a segment of the Bandhavgarh National Park and Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India, in order to understand how histories of occupation in jungles and wilderness where no settle-ments presently exist can be studied. Our survey invol-ved a combination of ground-level investigations using GPS devices along with an analysis of satellite images to explore whether such images can be used for locating structures and sites. The earliest archaeological markers in Bandhavgarh are cave shelters of the 2nd century CE, which form the subject of this article.

Keywords

Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, caves, forests, Indian archaeology, satellite imagery.
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  • Exploring the forest and mapping its archaeology: Bandhavgarh National Park and Tiger Reserve, India

Abstract Views: 307  |  PDF Views: 145

Authors

Nayanjot Lahiri
The Centre for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research, Ashoka University, Sonepat 131 029, India
M. B. Rajani
School of Humanities, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru 560 012, India
Debdutta Sanyal
Department of History, Ashoka University, Sonepat 131 029, India
Samayita Banerjee
Department of History, Ashoka University, Sonepat 131 029, India

Abstract


The archaeology of historical India has usually been perceived through the lens of cities and states, leaving forest tracts to a large extent unexamined. This article considers the historical signature in a segment of the Bandhavgarh National Park and Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India, in order to understand how histories of occupation in jungles and wilderness where no settle-ments presently exist can be studied. Our survey invol-ved a combination of ground-level investigations using GPS devices along with an analysis of satellite images to explore whether such images can be used for locating structures and sites. The earliest archaeological markers in Bandhavgarh are cave shelters of the 2nd century CE, which form the subject of this article.

Keywords


Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, caves, forests, Indian archaeology, satellite imagery.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv123%2Fi6%2F772-780