EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Archaeological field survey is the method by which archaeologists (often landscape archaeologists) search for archaeological sites and collect information about the location, distribution and organization of past human cultures across a large area (e.g. typically in excess of one hectare, and often in excess of many km 2 ). Archaeologists conduct surveys to search for particular archaeological sites or kinds of sites, to detect patterns in the distribution of material culture over regions, to make generalizations or test hypotheses about past cultures, and to assess the risks that development projects will have adverse impacts on archaeological heritage. The surveys may be: (a) intrusive or non-intrusive, depending on the needs of the survey team (and the risk of destroying archaeological evidence if intrusive methods are used) and; (b) extensive or intensive, depending on the types of research questions being asked of the landscape in question. Surveys can be a practical way to decide whether or not to carry out an excavation (as a way of recording the basic details of a possible site), but may also be ends in themselves, as they produce important information about past human activities in a regional context.
Transcript
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Archaeological field survey is the method by which archaeologists
(often landscape archaeologists) search for archaeological sites and collect information
about the location, distribution and organization of past human cultures across a large
area (e.g. typically in excess of one hectare, and often in excess of many km2).
Archaeologists conduct surveys to search for particular archaeological sites or kinds of
sites, to detect patterns in the distribution of material culture over regions, to make
generalizations or test hypotheses about past cultures, and to assess the risks that
development projects will have adverse impacts on archaeological heritage. The surveys
may be:
(a) intrusive or non-intrusive, depending on the needs of the survey team (and the risk
of destroying archaeological evidence if intrusive methods are used) and;
(b) extensive or intensive, depending on the types of research questions being asked of
the landscape in question. Surveys can be a practical way to decide whether or not to
carry out an excavation (as a way of recording the basic details of a possible site), but
may also be ends in themselves, as they produce important information about past human
activities in a regional context.
A common role of field survey is in assessment of potential archaeological
significance of places where development is proposed. This is usually connected to
construction work and road building. The assessment determines whether the area of
development impact is likely to contain significant archaeological resources and makes
recommendations as to whether the archaeological remains can be avoided or an
excavation is necessary before development work can commence.
Archaeologists use a variety of tools in survey, including GIS, GPS, remote
sensing, geophysical survey and aerial photography.
Research and planning
Survey work may be undertaken in response to a specific threat (such as proposed
or pending development project) to an area of known or unknown archaeological interest
or as part of a program addressing specific research topics. In either case actual fieldwork
is most likely to be preceded by a phase of desktop research (reviewing existing data in
the form of maps, formal and informal written records, photographs and drawings) or in
the modern age internet research using search engines, ancestry and birth or property
records online. Consideration should be given to the nature of the landscape (vegetation
coverage, existing settlement or industry, soil depth, climate) before a range of
techniques is selected to be applied within an appropriate overarching method.
Rationale
An area may be considered worthy of surveying based on the following:
Artifacts found: Locals have picked up physical artifacts, sometimes held by the local
museum but more often collected in private homes or old buildings such as churches
and synagogues, and it is unclear where they are coming from.
Literary sources: Old literary sources have provided archaeologists with clues about
settlement locations that have not been archaeologically documented. Sometimes the
texts may be quite recent; for instance, a book on local history may mention an
interesting area.
Oral sources: In many locations, local stories contain some hint of a greater past, and
often they have a basis in history. For instance, someone may remember that a
grandfather who used to walk the hills as a shepherd used to talk about columns from
an old temple, although the descendant never saw the ruins.
Local knowledge: In many cases, locals know where to find something of interest to
archaeologists. They may not have reported it because of taking it as part of their
world, or because of fearing intrusions on their land or community.
Previous surveys: In some places, a past survey may have been recorded in an
academic journal. The use of more recent technologies and finds from other sites may
provide reason to re-examine the site.
Previous excavations: Excavations carried out before the middle of the 20th century
are notoriously poorly documented. They were often carried out by methods that left
behind much of the evidence the modern-day archaeologist is looking for. Early
excavators were often interested only in fine pottery, jewelry and statues and referred
to as rescue archaeologists.
Lack of knowledge: Many areas of the world have developed limited knowledge
about the nature and organization of past human activity at the regional level.
(Although one or more sites may be known from an area, often little is known about
the wider distribution of contemporary settlements, and how settlement patterns may
change over time.) An archaeological field survey is the primary tool for discovering
information about previously uninvestigated areas.
Archaeological hypotheses: Some kinds of archaeological theories — about changes
in agricultural strategies or population density for example — are investigated or
tested through the use of archaeological surveys of areas that should or should not
contain particular kinds of archaeological materials if the theory is true.
Aerial photography
Aerial photography is a good tool for planning a survey. Remains of older
buildings often show in fields as cropmarks; just below the topsoil, the remains may
affect the growth of crops or grass. There should preferably be photographs of the same
area at different times of the year, allowing the analyst to find the best time to see
cropmarks.
Previous work in the region
If the indicator that started the process was not a record of previous work, the
archaeologists will need to check if any work has been done prior to commencement of
the pending project. As many older surveys and excavations were published in papers
that are not widely available, this may be a difficult task. A common way to handle this is
through a visit to the area, to check with local museums, historians and older people who
might remember something about the former activities in a particular locale.
Permissions
It is usually a simple matter to gain permission to perform a cultural field survey,
especially a non-intrusive one. If the area is privately owned, the local laws may or may
not require the landowners' co-operation. Permission for an intrusive form of survey may
be more difficult to acquire, due to the fear of destroying evidence or property values and
the threat of lawsuit for said damages from the property owner.
Intrusive vs. non-intrusive surveys
In a non-intrusive survey, nothing is touched, just recorded. An accurate survey of
the earthworks and other features can enable them to be interpreted without the need
for excavation.
An intrusive survey can mean different things. In some cases, all artifacts of
archaeological value are collected. This is often the case if it is a rescue survey, but less
common in a regular survey.
Another form of intrusive research is bore holes. Small holes are drilled into the
ground, most often with hand-powered bores. The contents are examined to determine the
depths at which one might find cultural layers, and where one might expect to strike
virgin soil. This can be valuable in determining the cost of an excavation - if there is a
build-up of several meters of soil above the layers the archaeologist is interested in, the
price will obviously be much higher than if artifacts are found only centimeters below
ground.
Extensive vs. intensive survey
One way to classify archaeological field surveys is to divide them into two
types: intensive survey and extensive survey. The former is characterised by the complete
or near-complete coverage of the survey area at a high-resolution, most often by having
teams of survey archaeologists walk in a systematic way (e.g. in parallel transects) over
parcels of the landscape in question, documenting archaeological data such
as lithics, ceramics and/or building remains.
However, variations in artifact visibility related to topography, vegetation, and
soil character, not to mention the imperfect detection abilities of human observers, bring
into question the very concept of complete coverage. The Extensive survey, on the other
hand, is characterised by a low-resolution approach over targets within a study area
(sometimes including hundreds of km²).
Sometimes this involves a random sampling or some other kind of probability
sample to gain a repsentative sample of the study area. Extensive surveys may be
designed to target the identification of archaeological sites across a large area, whereas
intensive surveys are designed to provide a more comprehensive picture of the location of
sites and the nature of off-site data (e.g. field systems, isolated finds, etc.).
Intensive survey is the more costly, timely, and ultimately informative of the two
approaches, although extensive survey can provide important information about
previously unknown areas.
Purposive vs. sampling survey
Archaeological field surveys can also be characterized as
either purposive or sampling surveys. The former, sometimes also called "archaeological
prospection," involves cases where archaeologists are searching for a particular site or a
particular kind of archaeological material.
For example, they might be searching for a particular shipwreck or an historic fort
whose exact location is no longer certain. However, they may also be searching for
archaeological materials in particular locations to test hypotheses about past use of those
spaces. Sampling surveys, on the other hand, have the goal of obtaining a representative
sample of some population of sites or artifacts in order to make generalizations about that
population. This involves some probability sampling of spatial units, such as random or
stratified random sampling of geometrical (often square) or irregular spatial units.
Field walk (transects)
Conventionally, fieldwalking in grids or along lines called transects has formed
the backbone of archaeological survey fieldwork, at least where visibility is fairly good.
A single researcher or team will walk slowly through the target area looking for artifacts
or other archaeological indicators on the surface, often recording aspects of the
environment at the time.
The method works best on either ploughed ground or surfaces with little
vegetation. On ploughed surfaces, as the soil is turned regularly artifacts will move to the
top. Erosion and soil loss on uncultivated and lightly vegetated soil (e.g., in semi-arid
environments) may cause artifacts to also 'rise' to the surface.
Even with optimal surface conditions the efficacy of fieldwalking varies
according longterm land use, topography, weather conditions, the skill and experience of
the fieldwalkers, and other factors.
Intensive arable agriculture on hilltops will first expose and then pulverize
artifacts such as pottery and even chipped stone (typically flint, chert or obsidian)
flakes. Conversely, the plateau and upper scarp or valley side soils will move down slope,
forming a deep seal over low-lying archaeological deposits, rendering them inaccessible
to surface survey.
Even artifacts on the surface and with relatively high visibility (i.e., little
obscuring vegetation), however, are not consistently detected by surveyors.
Consequently, it is unrealistic to expect 100% recovery of artifacts or even sites. We can
evaluate surveyors effectiveness at detecting artifacts with "Sweep width," which is the
theoretical width of a transect in which the number of artifacts detected outside the sweep
is identical to the number missed within the sweep.
The poorer the visibility, the poorer the contrast between the artifact "targets" and
their surroundings, or the poorer the surveyor's skill or attention, the narrower the sweep
width will be.
Modern technology such as GPS has made survey recording much easier, as
positions of artifacts or artifact clusters ("sites") can be taken well within the limits limits
of accuracy and precision necessary for survey work. Recording the position and
attributes of archaeological features has been expedited by customizable portable
computing interfaces or mobile Geographical Information Systems (GIS).
Databases containing existing regional archaeological data as well as other
landscape GIS layers such as soils, vegetation, modern features, and development plans
can be loaded on a mobile GIS for referencing, for sampling purposes, and for
groundtruth updating directly in the field, resulting a more informed archaeological
survey process.
In some areas, the fieldwalking is quite different. When searching in dense forest,
artifacts are hidden by a blanket of humus and fallen leaves, and even buildings may be
covered by vegetation, and are therefore virtually invisible even at short distances. The
team will then need to look for unnatural changes in the vegetation and landscape to
decide if a building or feature is hidden below the vegetation, or survey by subsurface
testing (SST).
SSTs can consist of a series of shovel-test pits dug down below this humus layer
or, where substantial later sediments may cover archaeological materials, series of auger
or core holes. Because SSTs are much more costly than fieldwalking, surveys by SST
usually have very low intensity.
Narrowing it down
Because of the high costs involved in some kinds of surveys, it is often helpful to
use "predictive modelling" to narrow down the search for archaeological materials. This
is particularly important for purposive surveys, but can also be used to guide sampling
surveys by eliminating the need to survey areas where, for geological or other reasons,
we can reasonably expect all ancient traces to be destroyed (e.g., by erosion) or far too
deeply buried (e.g., by alluvium) to be detectable. Modern predictive models in
archaeology employ Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Geophysical survey
Geophysical survey is used for subsurface mapping of archaeological sites. In
recent years, there have been great advances in this field, and it is becoming an
increasingly useful and cost-effective tool in archaeology. Geophysical instruments can
detect buried archaeological features when their electrical or magnetic properties contrast
measurably with their surroundings.
In some cases, individual artifacts, especially metal, may be detected as well.
Readings taken in a systematic pattern become a dataset that can be rendered as image
maps for interpretation. Survey results can be used to guide excavation and to give
archaeologists insight into the patterning of non-excavated parts of the site. Unlike other
archaeological methods, geophysical survey is not invasive or destructive. For this
reason, it is often used where preservation (rather than excavation) is the goal for project
preservation and compliance with applicable laws.
The geophysical methods most commonly applied to archaeology
are magnetometers, electrical resistance meters, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and
electromagnetic (EM) conductivity. These methods provide excellent resolution of many
types of archaeological features, and are capable of high sample density surveys of very
large areas and of operating under a wide range of conditions. While common metal
detectors are geophysical sensors, they are not capable of generating high-resolution
imagery. Other established and emerging technologies are also finding use in
archaeological applications.
Although geophysical survey has been used in the past with intermittent success,
good results are very likely when it is applied appropriately. It is most useful when it is
used in a well-integrated research design where interpretations can be tested and
refined. Interpretation requires a knowledge both of the archaeological record, and of the
way it is expressed geophysically. Appropriate instrumentation, field survey design, and
data processing are essential for success, and must be adapted to the unique geology and
archaeological record of each site. In the field, control of data quality and spatial
accuracy are critical to a successful mission completion.
Analysis
The most important part of the survey is the analysis. The types of questions
typically asked of survey data include:
1. What is the evidence for first occupation of an area
2. When was this area occupied
3. How are sites distributed
4. Where are sites located
5. What evidence is there for a settlement hierarchy
6. What sites are contemporary with each other
7. How has the modern landscape interfered with the visibility of archaeological
remains
8. What sorts of activities can be recognized (e.g. dwellings, tombs, field systems)
9. How many people lived in this area (at any given time)
10. Why did people choose to live in this area
11. How has the landscape changed over time
12. What changes in settlement patterns have there been?
At times, one part of the survey may not have yielded the evidence one wanted to
find. For instance, very little may have been found during a field walk, but there are
strong indications from geophysical survey and local stories that there is a building
underneath a field. In such a case, the only way to decide if an excavation is worth the
cost is to carefully analyze the evidence to determine which part to trust.
On the one hand, the geophysics might just show an old and forgotten water-pipe,
but it might also show the wall of just the building the archaeologists were looking for.
The analysis therefore includes careful examination of all the evidence collected.
A method often used to determine its value is to compare it to sites of the same period.
As the number of well-documented surveys grow, this becomes a slightly easier task, as it
is sometimes easier to compare two survey results than to compare a survey result with
an excavated site.
Objectives of the study :
1. To study the importance of archaeological survey.
2. To understand the art, history and culture of Goa and Karnataka
3. To explore the archaeological monuments and artifacts in Goa and Karnataka
Statement of the Problem :
This will specify the problems that archaeology has as an empirical discipline,
and then its theoretical concerns. Clearly, the evidential issues are not completely
separate from the theoretical or interpretive ones, so this division is artificial.
Nevertheless, this will provide an insight into the distinctive problems of Archaeology.
With this in mind, we can then look at how these problems have been investigated.
1. Empirical Dilemmas : Archaeology constructs accounts of the past based on
physical data. Typically, when we think of Archaeology's data, we think of the
intentional products of human behaviour; texts, tools, the remains of dwellings
and the surviving pieces of human material culture that fills our museums.
However, the increasing sophistication of archaeological techniques means that
the unintentional by-products of human activity can be studied as well.
2. The interpretive dilemma : The data collecting is to build a picture of the past.
Now archaeologists face two distinct contexts for their data; spatial contexts, and
temporal contexts. When confronted with spatial configurations of data the
archaeologist assumes that physical contiguity represents social continuity, and
seeks to interpret those spatial patterns as representative of various features of
human social life. Consequently, Archaeology is a socialscience.
Industry Profile
Archaeology is the study of the ancient and recent human past through material
remains. It is a subfield of anthropology, the study of all human culture. From million-
year-old fossilized remains of our earliest human ancestors in Africa, to 20th century
buildings in present-day New York City, archaeology analyzes the physical remains of
the past in pursuit of a broad and comprehensive understanding of human culture.
How does archaeology help us understand history and culture?
Archaeology offers a unique perspective on human history and culture that has
contributed greatly to our understanding of both the ancient and the recent past.
Archaeology helps us understand not only where and when people lived on the earth, but
also why and how they have lived, examining the changes and causes of changes that
have occurred in human cultures over time, seeking patterns and explanations of patterns
to explain everything from how and when people first came to inhabit the Americas, to
the origins of agriculture and complex societies.
Unlike history, which relies primarily upon written records and documents to
interpret great lives and events, archaeology allows us to delve far back into the time
before written languages existed and to glimpse the lives of everyday people through
analysis of things they made and left behind.
Archaeology is the only field of study that covers all times periods and all
geographic regions inhabited by humans. It has helped us to understand big topics like
ancient Egyptian religion, the origins of agriculture in the Near East, colonial life in
Jamestown Virginia, the lives of enslaved Africans in North America, and early
Mediterranean trade routes. In addition archaeology today can inform us about the lives
of individuals, families and communities that might otherwise remain invisible.
Types of Archaeology
Prehistoric archaeology focuses on past cultures that did not have written
language and therefore relies primarily on excavation or data recovery to reveal cultural
evidence. Historical archaeology is the study of cultures that existed (and may still)
during the period of recorded history--several thousands of years in parts of the Old
World, but only several hundred years in the Americas.
Within historical archaeology there are related fields of study that include
classical archaeology, which generally focuses on ancient Greece and Rome and is often
more closely related to the field of art history than to anthropology, and biblical
archaeology, which seeks evidence and explanation for events described in the Bible and
therefore is focused primarily on the Middle East.
Underwater archaeology studies physical remains of human activity that lie
beneath the surface of oceans, lakes, rivers, and wetlands. It includes maritime
archaeology—the study of shipwrecks in order to understand the construction and
operation of watercraft—as well as cities and harbors that are now submerged, and
dwellings, agricultural, and industrial sites along rives, bays and lakes. Some of the other
specialties within archaeology include urban archaeology, industrial archaeology, and
bioarchaeology. Cultural Resource Management archaeology, known as “CRM” refers to
archaeology that is conducted to comply with federal and state laws that protect
archaeological sites.
Archaeological Sites
An archaeological site is any place where physical remains of past human
activities exist. There are many, many types of archaeological sites. Prehistoric
archaeological sites include permanent Native American villages or cities, stone quarries
from which raw materials were obtained, rock art petrogylphs and pictographs,
cemeteries, temporary campsites, and megalithic stone monuments. A site can be as small
as a pile of chipped stone tools left by a prehistoric hunter who paused to sharpen a spear
point, or as large and complex as the prehistoric settlements of Chaco Canyon in the
American southwest, or Stonehenge in England. Historical archaeology sites can be
found in areas as densely populated as New York City, or far below the surface of a river,
or sea. The wide variety of historical archaeological sites studied include shipwrecks,
battlefields and other military sites, slave quarters, plantations, cemeteries, mills, and
factories.
Artifacts, Features, and Ecofacts
Even the smallest archaeological site may contain a wealth of important
information. Artifacts are objects made or used by people that are analyzed by
archaeologists to obtain information about the peoples who made and used them. Non-
portable artifacts called features are also important sources of information on
archaeological sites. Features include things like soil stains that indicate where storage
pits, garbage dumps, structures, or fences once existed. Ecofacts found on archaeological
sites are natural remains such as plant and animal remains that can help archaeologists
understand diet and subsistence patterns.
Context
Context in archaeology refers to the relationship that artifacts have to each other
and the situation in which they are found. Every artifact found on an archaeological site
has a precisely defined location. The exact spot where an artifact is found is recorded
before it is removed from that location. In the 1920s when a stone spear point was found
lodged between the ribs of a species of bison that went extinct at the end of the last Ice
Age, it settled an argument that had gone on for decades, establishing once and for all
that that people had inhabited North America since the late Pleistocene.
It is the context or association between the bison skeleton and the artifact that
proved this. When people remove an artifact without recording its precise location the
context is lost forever and the artifact has little or no scientific value. Context is what
allows archaeologists to understand the relationship between artifacts on the same site, a
well as how different archaeological sites are related to each other.
Archaeology is a magical gateway to the past. It is the discipline that
complements History best with its hard evidences and methodological advantages
The discipline of archaeology studies human cultures and past. Through recovery
and interpretation of architectures, artefacts, bio facts, and landscapes, archaeology seeks
to a) determine the chronology of human development, b) unearth the cultural history of
various human settlements, c) and substantiate or fill the lacunae of history with material
evidence, and d) understand the processes that underlie the changes taken place in human
societies across cultures.
How is archaeology placed?
Archaeology is a part of both history and anthropology. There is much hue and
cry over its disciplinary identity given that most historians and anthropologists consider
archaeology to be an addendum. However, of late archaeology has proven itself to be
indispensable to the writing of any kind of tracts of our distant past.
With something as little as broken bits of pottery, or carvings, archaeological
analyses can turn the pages of history upside down. Excavation exercises have unearthed
civilizations and recuperated cities. Histories have been written and rewritten. No other
discipline deals with material evidence. No other discipline has the reach archaeology
does.
We can explore into the lives of aboriginal slaves or wonder at the inhabitants of
the Stone Age because hard material evidences about everyday life and hardships have
been made available to us by archaeology.
Why is archaeology important?
It has been therefore wrongly deduced that archaeology is subservient to the
discipline of history. The deal is the other way round. Archaeology has two of the
greatest advantages. It has the unique capability of stretching back to the remotest eras of
human existence and drawing the hitherto unknown out of the darkness of time.
Secondly, archaeology deals in tangible relics and therefore it can claim credibility that
no other human sciences can. What this means is that archaeology’s efforts can cast much
needed light upon present day’s issues with identity and possession. By discovering
valuable facts in terms of land, bones and artefacts it can help put issues of retention or
restitution of land rights of indigenous or minority groups in perspective.
Archaeology’s value therefore remains untouchable. Even in the field of
anthropology, it has emerged from the shadows of a mother discipline. Anthropology
being the study of past and present human societies, seeks to uncover patterns of meaning
as they exist in the present by broadly interpreting sources, and mostly archaeological
finds. Anthropology by itself will be restricted to the recent and immediate past of
cultures, but archaeology’s ability to look at long term change and come out with broader
generalisations about why certain cultures and groups changed or perished over time.
The origin of archaeology
Moreover the two disciplines emerged out of colonialism. Exercises that
necessarily focused on the non-West, or in lay terms, ‘exotic’ cultures and ‘natives.’ A
team of anthropologists would just go off somewhere and study ‘primitive’ cultures in
their quest to know the Other. It’s only recently that this otherisation and exoticisation of
other cultures through discourses of academic disciplines have come under the scanner
and research (especially the white western academe) and has become more reflective.
The role of archaeology
The role of archaeology here becomes crucial. Archaeology can contribute
immensely by revealing cultural ways and artefacts that can help in identification of
historical incorrect views and understandings.
Archaeology therefore becomes necessary to forge points of unity and points of
diversity in varied cultures and civilizations. It helps in discovering not only the ‘other’
but also rediscovering our own selves.
Losing an archaeological site or artefact is therefore akin to losing stories that
cannot be retold. If the past needs to be preserved archaeology needs to be treated as a
valuable discipline bringing to the fore buried pasts and misconstrued stories.
World Heritage Sites - Churches of Old Goa
In 1972, the General Conference of UNESCO adopted a resolution with
overwhelming enthusiasm creating thereby a 'Convention concerning the protection of
the World Cultural and Natural Heritage'.
The main objectives were to define the World Heritage in both cultural and
natural aspects; to enlist Sites and Monuments from the member countries which are of
exceptional interest and universal value, the protection of which is the concern of all
mankind; and to promote co-operation among all Nations and people to contribute for the
protection of these universal treasures intact for future generations.
The List of recorded sites on the World Heritage now stands at 812 which include
both cultural and natural wonders, and endowment that is shared by all mankind and the
protection of which is the concern of the entire mankind. These include 628 cultural, 160
natural and 24 mixed properties in 137 state parties.
India is an active member State on the World Heritage from 1977 and has been
working in close co-operation with other International agencies like ICOMOS
(International Council on Monuments and Sites), IUCN (International Union for the
Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) and ICCROM (International Centre for
the study of Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property).
Churches and Convents of Goa (1986), Goa
The Churches and Convents at Velha (Old) Goa owe their existence to the
Portuguese rule in this part of the western coast of India.
The most comprehensive group of churches and cathedrals built during 16th to
17th century AD at Old Goa comprise of the following:
Se' Cathedral, Church and Convent of St. Francis of Assisi, Chapel of St.
Catherine, Basilica of Bom Jesus; Church of Lady of Rosary; Church of St. Augustine.
The Church of St. Cajetan is modelled on the original design of St. Peter's Church
in Rome. The Church of Bom Jesus with its facade decorated with Ionic, Doric and
Corinthian pilasters, shows the application of the Classical order.
The Se' Cathedral which was begun as a small chapel built of mud and straw
under the order of Alfonso Albuquerque after his conquest of Goa is yet another example
of Renaissance with its Tuscan exterior, the Corinthian columns at its portals, the raised
platform with steps leading to the entrance and the barrel-vault above the nave.
The principal chapel is large and ornamented with engraved pillars and pilasters.
The images of Senhora d’Esperanca (Our Lady of Hope), Christ crucified and St.
Catherine standing in the centre with statues of St. Peter and St. Paul on either side.
The paintings in the churches were done on wooden borders and fixed between
panels having floral designs as in the chapels housing the tomb of St. Xavier, the arches
above the altars in the transept of the Se' Cathedral and in the nave on either side of the
main altar in the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. Excepting a few which are in stone, the
statues are mostly in wood delicately carved and painted to adorn the altars. They depict
mostly the saints, Mother Mary and Jesus on the cross.
Bom Jesus is said to be one of the grandest Churches to be raised in Asia vast and
magnificent with ornaments suited to its greatness. Made of black granite, it part Doric
and part Corinthian façade is elaborately carved. The ceiling is highly decorated.
Sarcophagi of illustrious Portuguese who were connected with the religious life of Goa
are very interesting. Its high and broad altar is dedicate to the figure of infant (Bom)
Jesus.
List of places of Archaeological importance - Goa
1 Basilica of Bom Jesus Old Goa Old Goa
2 Se’ Cathedral Old Goa Old Goa
3 Chapel of St. Cajetan Old Goa Old Goa
4 Church and Convent of St. Francis Assisi Old Goa Old Goa
5 Chapel of St. Catherine Old Goa Old Goa
6 Church of Lady of Rosary Old Goa Old Goa
7 Portal remains of St.Paul’s College Old Goa Old Goa
8 Arch of Viceroy Old Goa Old Goa
9 Arch of Adil Shah’s Palace Old Goa Old Goa
10 Church of St. Augustine Old Goa Old Goa
11 Auguda Fortress (Upper) Candolim Goa
12 Safa Masjid Ponda Goa
13 Rock cut caves Arvalem Goa
14 Mahadev Temple Tamdisurla Goa
15 Mahadev Temple Kurdi Goa
16 Excavated site Chandore Goa
17 Fortification Wall of Auguda Fortress(Lower) Candolim Goa
18 Chapel of St. Francis Xavier and connected
buildings
Old Goa Old Goa
19 House of Bull Old Goa Old Goa
20 Largo of St. Francis Xavier Old Goa Old Goa
21 Largo of St. Cajetan together with other
monuments
Old Goa Old Goa
Places of Archaeological Importance in Karnataka :
World Heritage Sites – Hampi
Traditionally known as Pampakshetra of Kishkindha, Hampi is situated on the
southern bank of the river Tungabhadra. Once it was the seat of the mighty Vijayanagara
empire.
The monuments of Vijayanagara city, also known as Vidyanagara in honour of
the sage Vidyaranya were built between AD 1336-1570, from the times of Harihara-I to
Sadasiva Raya. A large number of royal buildings were raised by Krishnadeva Raya (AD
1509-30), the greatest ruler of the dynasty.
The period witnessed resurgence of Hindu religion, art, architecture in an
unprecedented scale. The contemporary chroniclers who came from far off countries-
such as Arabia, Italy, Portugal and Russia visited the empire, have left graphic and
glowing accounts of the city. It covers an area of nearly 26 sq km and is stated to be
enclosed by seven lines of fortifications.
Extensive remains of the palaces can be seen within innermost enclosure of the
ancient Vijayanagara. The various religious and secular structures which include Hindu
and Jaina temples, audience hall of the king, the magnificent throne platform to witness
the festivals and other events, the king's balance (tulabhara) are awe-inspiring.
Temples of this city are noted for their large dimensions, florid ornamentation,
bold and delicate carvings, stately pillars, magnificent pavilions and a great wealth of
iconographic and traditional depictions which include subjects from the Ramayana and
the Mahabharata. The largest extant temple is that of Pampapati (now in worship) was
extensively renovated. Its magnificent entrance tower was caused by Krishnadeva Raya.
The Vitthala temple is an excellent example of Vijayanagara style. The monolithic
statues of Lakshmi, Narasimha and Ganesa are noted for their massiveness and grace.
The Krishna temple, Pattabhirama temple, Hazara Ramachandra and
Chandrasekhara temple as also the Jaina temples, are other examples. Majority of these
temples were provided with widespread bazaars flanked on either side by storeyed
mandapas. Among secular edifices mention may be made of the Zenana enclosure
wherein a massive stone basement of the Queen's palace and an ornate pavilion called
'Lotus-Mahal are only remnants of a luxurious antahpura. The corner towers of arresting
elevation, the Dhananayaka's enclosure (treasury), the Mahanavami Dibba carrying
beautifully sculptured panels, a variety of ponds and tanks, mandapas, the elephant's
stables and the row of pillared mandapas are some of the important architectural remains
of this city.
Recent excavations at the site have brought to light a large number of palatial
complexes and basements of several platforms. Interesting finds include a large number
of stone images, both in round and relief, beautiful terracotta objects and stucco figures
that once embellished the palaces. In addition many gold and copper coins, household
utensils, a square stepped-tank (sarovara) at the south-west of Mahanavami Dibba, and a
large number of ceramics including the important variety of porcelain and inscribed
Buddhist sculptures of 2nd -3rd century AD have also been unearthed.
Excavations - Important - Karnataka
Brahmagiri, Dt. Chitradurga, Karnataka :
Brahmagiri is located close to Siddapur where two Minor Rock-edicts of Ashoka
were discovered in 1891. These inscriptions, besides indicating the southern most extent
by the Mauryan empire, also mentions the locality known as Isila, the headquarters of the
Mahamatras of Suvarnagiri.
A habitation site was discovered here in 1940 M.H. Krishna (IAR Mysore Arch.
Dept. for 1940, p. 63). He excavated 16 trenches in different parts of the site and
recognized five cultural strata: Microlithic, Neolithic, Iron Age, Mauryan, and Chalukya-
Hoysala. The Microlithic culture was designated by him as 'Roppa culture', the trench
wherein it was identified being located within the limits of the village Roppa.R.E.M.
Wheeler discovering Rouletted Ware in Krishna's collections .
At the habitation site, he established a sequence of three cultures: Period I,
Neolithic or Neolithic-Chalcolithic; Period II, the Megalithic culture; and Period III, early
historical culture. Seshadri, 1956, re-explored the site and collected flake tools of jasper,
chert, etc., such as scrapers, and assigned them to Pre-I A phase of Wheeler. Later in
1965 two copper objects from the sieved debris and black-painted red ware sherds of the
late Jorwe fabric from the surface were discovered; in 1978 similar painted sherds from
the overlapping layers of Period I B and the Megalithic were found.
In Period I, the Neolithic Culture is characterised by the abundance of polished
stone axes made of dolerite. The other lithic tools include parallel-sided blades and
microliths such as crescents, beaked gravers, backed blades, blades with crested ridge,
but strangely enough without fluted cores, made on jasper, agate, carnelian, flint,
common opal and rock crystal are considerably large in number. Period I B indicates an
extremely limited use of the metal. The main types of pottery vessels, mostly handmade,
generally of coarse grey fabric and in its varying shades, burnished or unburnished,
Besides the painted decoration on pottery some have simple incised designs including the
herring-bone pattern. Two kinds of burial practices have been encountered: infant urn
burial and adult inhumation burial.
The prominent feature of Pd.II is the use of iron of offensive and agricultural use,
along with polished stone axes and microlithics as survival.The pottery, entirely different
from that of the preceding culture, is of mainly three fabrics: highly polished Black-and-
red Ware; all-black ware; and bright as well as coarse dull-red ware.
The peculiar feature of the culture is the disposal of the dead in a specially
constructed stone cist or excavated pit, each enclosed by a circle of boulders on the
surface or rarely two concentric circles measuring from 4.8 to 6.3 m in diameter. In one
of the Megaliths, 33 gold and two carnelian beads, four copper bangles and a conch shell
have been found. The excavator suggests that the pit circles might have been specialised
tombs for a particular and restricted social grade or that were macerating pits in which
human.
Period III, the early Historic Period, is characterized by a far more sophisticated
pottery made on the fast wheel, with white-painted geometrical designs under russet
colour [Russet-coated Painted Ware]. The most distinct types are the shallow dish with an
internally beaked edge and straight-sided bowl and the frequent use of glass for
ornaments being noteworthy. The fragment of a terracotta round medallion with a row of
elephants at the edge testifies to the popular art of the period.
Considering the datable evidence of pottery with rouletted design, occurrence of
Roman denarii of Augustus (c. 2nd B.C.-A.D. ) and of Tiberius (minted c. A.D. 27-
37) .Wheeler dated the three cultures respectively from the early 1st millennium to the
beginning of the 2nd century B.C.; 2nd century B.C to the middle of the 1st century A.D.;
and the middle of the. 1st century to the 3rd century A.D. He also regarded the Asokan
edicts of Brahmagiri as having been addressed to the people of the last phase of Period I.
Company Profile :
Archaeological Survey of India
The Archaeological Survey of India is an Indian government agency in the
Department of Culture that is responsible for archaeological studies and the preservation
of cultural monuments. According to its website, the ASI's function is to "explore,
excavate, conserve, preserve and protect the monuments and sites of National &
International Importance."
History
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is the successor of the Asiatic
Society of British archaeologist Sir William Jones, founded January 15, 1784. In 1788 it
begun to publish a journal The Asiatic Researches and in 1814 built its first museum
in Bengal.
Overview
The ASI in its current form was founded in 1861 under British colonial
administration by Sir Alexander Cunningham with the help of the then Viceroy Canning.
At the time, its domain also included Afghanistan. When Mortimer Wheeler became
Director-General in 1944, the head-office of the Survey was located at the Railway Board
building in Simla. After independence, it came under the Ancient Monuments and
Archaeological Sites And Remains Act of 1958.
ASI administers 3636 monuments it has declared to be of national importance
under the provisions of the Antiquity and Art Treasure Act 1972.
The important sites excavated recently include Harsha-ka-Tila
at Thanesar in Haryana exposing a cultural sequence from the Kushan period to medieval
periods.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), under the Ministry of Culture, is the
premier organization for the archaeological researches and protection of the cultural
heritage of the nation. Maintenance of ancient monuments and archaeological sites and
remains of national importance is the prime concern of the ASI. Besides it regulate all
archaeological activities in the country as per the provisions of the Ancient Monuments
and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958. It also regulates Antiquities and Art
Treasure Act, 1972.
For the maintenance of ancient monuments and archaeological sites and remains
of national importance the entire country is divided into 24 Circles. The organization has
a large work force of trained archaeologists, conservators, epigraphist, architects and
scientists for conducting archaeological research projects through its Circles, Museums,
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