BHUBANESWAR: After excavating Chinese pottery shreds of 14th century Ming dynasty from Barabati fort complex in Cuttack, the Archaeological Survey of India (Puri circle) has discovered pieces of pottery belonging to both South East and West Asian countries from the site.
The excavation started by the ASI in November last year, aims at tracing the maritime trade link between Odisha and South East Asian countries and material culture prior to 12th-13th century.
In the last few days, pieces of white pottery ware belonging to the Tang dynasty of China; a large number of celadon, porcelain and glaze ware potteries belonging to China, Vietnam, Burma and even some from Arabian countries have been excavated. The findings are from trenches dug up in three directions of the ancient fort which was built by the Ganga dynasty on the banks of Mahanadi river.
Senior archaeologists of ASI and Odisha Institute of Maritime and South East Asian Studies on Tuesday examined the findings from the Barabati site. “These findings now establish that Odisha had strong maritime relations with not just South East Asian countries but also the West Asian countries,” said ASI (Puri circle) chief DB Garnayak who is heading the excavation.
Recently, pieces of Tang pottery were excavated 3.7 metre below the soil level at the site. “Senior archaeologists who evaluated the various potteries’ shreds and material culture evidence have concluded that the antiquity of Barabati dates earlier than 9th century CE and continues up to the 17th century,” he informed.
Earlier this year, several temple and palace fragments were excavated from the trench that had been created in the north-east direction of the remains of the pillared hall of the fort. The temple fragments included a large sculpted piece with multiple figurines, a large sandstone sculpture of a lion and an elephant panel. The third trench is located behind the Museum of Justice.
Besides, excavation in all the three trenches revealed a structure with four courses made of laterite blocks (220 metre below the surface), a collapsed structure made of laterite boulders and lime blocks. Remains of a floor and pathway have also been unearthed, all spanning across three structural phases - 12th, 13th and 14th centuries.