Why in news?

Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has recently examined 22 boxes of artefacts stored for nearly 70 years, uncovering over 10,000 artefacts — including painted black pottery believed to be 3,000 years old.

These were excavated from Rajghat, one of the oldest known settlements in the Varanasi region, between 1957 and 1969. Earlier in August, experts had also opened a box containing a human skeleton recovered from the same site.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Where Is Rajghat, and Why Does It Matter?
• The History of Excavation at Rajghat
• What Have the Artefacts Revealed?
• Archaeology vs Mythology: An Important Distinction
• Why Is BHU Documenting These Artefacts Now?
• The Human Skeleton: A First-Time Analysis

Where Is Rajghat, and Why Does It Matter?

• Rajghat today is a neighbourhood in eastern Varanasi, but the archaeological site specifically refers to an ancient settlement on the city's northeastern outskirts, near the confluence of the Ganga and Varana rivers.
• According to archaeologists, Rajghat is identified as the capital of the Kashi Janapada.
  • Janapadas were territorial kingdoms that emerged during the later Vedic period; some grew into larger mahajanapadas by the 6th century BCE.
  • Early Buddhist and Jain texts list Kashi as one of 16 mahajanapadas of the Indo-Gangetic plain.
• The wider Kashi region has several excavated ancient settlements — including Aktha, Ramnagar, Sarnath, and Rajghat.
• Various research concluded that while Sarnath developed as a pilgrimage site, Rajghat grew into the main urban centre, with other settlements serving as peripheral, rural areas.

The History of Excavation at Rajghat

• The site first came to attention in 1940, when a railway contractor found archaeological remains while extending Kashi Railway Station.
• Archaeologists conducted a trial excavation for the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) later that year.
• Full-scale excavations began in 1957, led by A K Narain and colleagues from BHU's Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology.
• Conducted in four phases over 12 years, these excavations unearthed the site's oldest layer, containing pre-Northern Black Polished Ware (pre-NBPW) pottery — associated with an early Iron Age phase.
• This evidence dated the settlement's origins to around 800 BCE.
• In the early 2000s, archaeologists re-excavated the site to verify this dating, digging down from the Kushana period (1st century BCE–3rd century CE) layers.
• Scientific analysis subsequently confirmed the 800 BCE date for Rajghat's oldest layer.

What Have the Artefacts Revealed?

• The 10,000+ artefacts include a wide range of objects: sculptures, ancient coins, tools, stamp seals, and items made of copper, ivory, and bone.
• According to experts, the seals and sealings are the most significant finds — many carry Greek inscriptions, while others bear the names of administrative units and officials.
• Additional finds include ivory and iron objects, punch-marked coins, and terracotta figurines.
• These artefacts are valuable for tracing the development of human civilisation in the Indian subcontinent.

Archaeology vs Mythology: An Important Distinction

• Analysts caution against conflating mythological antiquity with archaeological evidence.
• They note that the well-known religious association between Varanasi, Shiva, and the Ganga is actually a product of late medieval texts — not necessarily reflected in the archaeological record.
• Archaeological dating, based on material remains, places settlements in the Varanasi region as far back as 1800 BCE.
• This gap between textual and archaeological dating must be kept in mind while reconstructing Varanasi's history —a general tendency is to describe important sites as simply "pracheen" (ancient) without precise evidence.

Why Is BHU Documenting These Artefacts Now?

• This documentation effort is part of the centenary celebrations of BHU's Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology.
• The goal is to preserve a century of departmental work and make it accessible to future researchers — with plans for a future museum also underway.
  • Documentation began in January 2026 and has recorded about 4,000 artefacts so far.
• While excavation reports were already public and available to researchers, this marks the first organised, comprehensive documentation effort.

The Human Skeleton: A First-Time Analysis

• The human skeleton recovered from Rajghat is the only artefact opened for the first time during this exercise.
• When Professor Narain excavated it in the 1960s, technology to analyse human remains did not exist.
• With modern techniques like DNA sampling and analysis, researchers now hope to learn more about the age, ancestry, and lifestyle of the people who inhabited the region in antiquity.

Conclusion

The renewed examination of Rajghat's 1950s-60s excavation trove offers a rare opportunity to scientifically reconstruct Varanasi's ancient urban history, distinct from its mythological narrative.

With modern techniques like DNA analysis now available, these decades-old artefacts — including a long-sealed human skeleton — could yield fresh insights into one of the world's oldest continually inhabited cities.