University of Calcutta : Department of Archaeology

With the establishment of the Department of Archaeology in 1960 that Archaeology received its due importance in the academic syllabus of the University. One of the founders, Professor Sudhiranjan Das, was an eminent archaeologist in his own right, having been trained by Mortimer Wheeler in the Taxila School. Prof. Niharanjan Ray, the noted historian and a co-founder regretted that to scholars of ancient Indian history, numismatists and epigraphists, archaeology has been a source for their ‘source materials’, their dependence being more on the discipline of philology and linguistics. It was to remedy these defects that a necessity was felt for a department solely devoted to archaeological pursuits. Till date this remains the only department in the country, standing singly, and not tagged with Ancient Indian History and Culture as is seen in other universities. Ever since its inception, the department has been conducting regular excavation programs of sites ranging from the prehistoric to the medieval period and thereby imparting field training to students. Th