New excavations show an older Lucknow

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New excavations show an older Lucknow

 

THE TIMES OF INDIA NEWS SERVICE

LUCKNOW: Lucknow's antiquity has officially been established at 1500

BC (pre-Buddhist) following radio carbon determination of the

findings excavated at Dadupur near Banthra, 22 km from here.

The earlier date of Lucknow's archaeologically historicity had been

pegged at 600-1000 BC (coinciding with the Buddhist-Jain periods) on

the basis of excavations carried out at Hulas Khera in Mohanlalganj.

The fresh light on the city's antiquity was the outcome of extensive

excavations carried out by UP's archaelogical department at the

Dadupur site on the basis of circumstantial evidence that some kind

of activity had been prevalent in the region.

The core area of habitation, however, could not be located in the

earlier excavations. The fresh excavations showed the presence of

iron along with ill fired distinct red ware, fine red ware, black

slipped ware and black and red ware in shapes mainly of bowls, dishes

and storage jars etc. Charred bones were also found in large

quantities.

The burnt terracota nodules with reed marks recovered from the

deposit indicated that the huts were made of wattle and duab. Also

discovered was a big oven full of ash with its outer limit

strengthened with kankar nodules. The recovery of a number of antlers

with sharp cut marks along with finished and unfinished artifacts

indicates that the area could have been a factory producing bone

artifacts. What merited particular attention, however, was the

presence of iron in this region. In Chandauli and Sonebhadra, the

iron date had gone back to 1600 BC but that could also be explained

by the presence of iron ore deposits there. Getting iron in the

alluvial area of the mid-Ganga valley in 1500 BC shows that it was

being supplied from some core area to this region. This itself calls

for a review of the earlier theory of migration which showed that the

Aryans had migrated in the later Vedic period from west to east and

brought iron with them. A new site 25 km from Dadupur may show

evidence of human existence even before that of 1500 BC.

 

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