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हिन्दी — Read in HindiExcavations and discoveries
Excavations, finds and underwater archaeology in the news, read against the period and the site they belong to.
Asked before
- Prelims 2026: Consider the following statements relating to the use of the place-value system in India: 1. The earliest epigraphic use of the place-val…
- Prelims 2026: Consider the following statements about the archaeological findings in Harappan towns: I. There is wide occurrence of spindle-whorls in t…
- Prelims 2026: Consider the following statements about the Rigvedic period: I. Irrigation from wells allowed agriculture to expand away from flood plain…
- Prelims 2026: Which of the following pairs of ancient and modern names of rivers is/are correctly matched? 1. Vitasta : Chenab 2. Asikni : Jhelum 3. Pa…
- Prelims 2026: In which one among the following texts does the term kshetra-patni ('mistress of the field') originate?
- Mains 2026 GS1: Analyze the importance of Ashokan inscriptions for reconstructing Mauryan history.
- Mains 2025 GS1: Examine the main aspects of Akbar's religious syncretism.
- Prelims 2024: Consider the following information: 1. Chandraketugarh / Odisha / Trading Port town 2. Inamgaon / Maharashtra / Chalcolithic site 3. Mang…
Thotlakonda and Thiksey: a Buddhist site and a monastery in news
Copy link to Thotlakonda and Thiksey: a Buddhist site and a monastery in newsBriefPrelims22 Aug 2026
- Thotlakonda, on a hill above the Bay of Bengal near Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh: ministers and delegates of the BRICS countries toured it on 22 August 2026, ahead of the BRICS Youth and Sports Ministers' meetings held in the city under India's chairship. The Indian Navy spotted the site in an aerial survey, and the State archaeology department excavated it between 1988 and 1993: a Hinayana monastic complex of about 2,000 years ago, with a Mahastupa, votive stupas, chaityas and viharas, and Satavahana and Roman coins that point to sea trade.
- Thiksey, about 19 km from Leh, in the Indus valley of Ladakh: a twelve storey Gelug monastery often compared with the Potala at Lhasa, visited by the United States ambassador on 21 August 2026. Its Maitreya temple holds a 15 metre seated Maitreya, the largest in Ladakh, built to mark the Dalai Lama's visit of 1970.
Exam lens: Thotlakonda is a Hinayana site near Visakhapatnam with Satavahana and Roman coins; Thiksey is a Gelug (Yellow Hat) monastery of Ladakh with a 15 metre Maitreya.
Sources
- News On AIR, 22 August 2026, “BRICS delegates visit historic Thotlakonda Buddhist site ahead of Youth Ministers' meeting”
- Young INTACH
- Buddhistdoor
- Free Press Journal, 22 August 2026, “Where is Thiksey monastery? US Ambassador Sergio Gor explores Buddhist heritage”
Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.
Rajghat and Poompuhar: a 1950s dig reopened, and a port under the sea
Copy link to Rajghat and Poompuhar: a 1950s dig reopened, and a port under the seaBriefPrelims30 Sep 2026
- Rajghat, Varanasi: Banaras Hindu University has opened 22 boxes holding more than 10,000 objects from its excavations of 1957 to 1969, stored for nearly seven decades. The evidence places the settlement at about 800 BCE, which makes Rajghat the early city of Kashi; the finds include seals and sealings naming administrative units and officials, and human remains that are being sent for DNA analysis.
- Poompuhar, Tamil Nadu: the third phase of underwater exploration off the coast, an 18 day survey by the State Department of Archaeology with the Indian Maritime University, found a torpedo jar fragment about 10 metres down and two kilometres out, four ring wells and more than 250 ceramic pieces. Torpedo jars carried wine and oil from West Asia in the early historic period; the ring wells suggest a settlement later taken by the sea. Poompuhar is Kaveripattinam, the Chola port of Sangam literature.
Exam lens: Rajghat is Kashi's ancient settlement, about 800 BCE; Poompuhar is Kaveripoompattinam of the Sangam age; a torpedo jar is a West Asian transport vessel and a marker of Indo Roman and Persian Gulf trade.
Sources
- VIF, 13 October 2026, “Culture and Civilisational Digest, September 2026”
- The Indian Express, “Why a 1950s excavation is shedding new light on Varanasi's ancient past now”
- The Hindu
- The Indian Express
Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.
Rakhigarhi: the Mound 7 burials go for scientific study
Copy link to Rakhigarhi: the Mound 7 burials go for scientific studyBriefPrelims30 Jun 2026
- Rakhigarhi, in Hisar district of Haryana, spreads over about 550 hectares and is the largest known Harappan settlement, occupied without a break from the Early to the Mature Harappan period.
- In June 2026 the Archaeological Survey of India sent skeletal remains from eight burials found at Mound 7, the site's cemetery, in the 2025-26 season to the Anthropological Survey of India's laboratory in Kolkata.
- Two of the women were buried wearing shell bangles, with about 40 pots as grave goods; a sample went to the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, for DNA analysis.
Exam lens: Rakhigarhi in Haryana, the largest Harappan site; Mound 7 the cemetery; ASI excavates, the Anthropological Survey studies bones, the Birbal Sahni Institute studies ancient DNA.
Sources
- News On AIR, 22 June 2026, “ASI transfers Rakhigarhi skeletal remains to Anthropological Survey of India for detailed examination”
- The Tribune, 28 June 2026, “Fresh insights from Rakhigarhi”
Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.