Excavation At Wari-Bateshwar : A Preliminary Study

Contents: Preface. I. A preliminary report on Wari-Bateshwar trial excavation by ICSBA/Enamul Haque, S.S. Mostafizur Rahman and S. M. Kamrul Ahsan. II. Addendum : 1. Wari-Bateshwar and the associated evidence from the Padma-Meghna deltaic region/Dilip K. Chakrabarti. 2. Two examples of Mauryan art from Bengal/Dilip K. Chakrabarty. 3. Maritime activities and the indigenous traditions of Boat-Building in ancient and mediaeval Bengal/Enamul Haque. 4. Bronze knobbed bowls from Wari, Bangladesh: implications for trade/Kishore K. Basa and S.S. M. Rahman. 5. Wari-Bateshwar: an important centre of maritime activities in ancient Bengal/Shahanaj Husne Jahan. 6. A few Wari-Bateshwar antiquities/Enamul Haque. III. Index.

"For nearly seventy years scholars had been aware of the surface finds of silver punch-marked coins, semi-precious stone beads, iron slags, pottery etc. from the twin villages of Wari-Bateshwar, Narsingdi district, Bangladesh. As no systematic archaeological investigation had been carried out so far in the region, The International Centre for Study of Bengal Art (ICSBA) undertook, with permission from the Government, a small scale trial excavation which was carried out in 2000. The exercise offered significant result. It placed Wari in the early historic period. NBPW, Rouletted Ware and Knobbed Ware were found in this remote eastern part of Bangladesh. A large number of chips, flakes and cores from excavation and a few pieces of raw material finds of jasper and quartz from earlier exploration absolutely proved the existence of a semi-precious stone bead manufacturing centre. Iron slags and smelted tiny parts of iron have also been found.

The small-scale investigation leading to discovery of Rouletted Ware, Knobbed Ware, stone beads etc., particularly in the context of the geo-location of Wari-Bateshwar, inevitably indicates to southeast Asiatic and Roman contacts." (jacket)