BHUBANESWAR: Amidst plans to trace the habitational profile of the Sun temple complex at Konark, a ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey was carried out on the premises of the World Heritage Site by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) with the help of CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (CSIR-NGRI) on Monday.
The CSIR-NGRI carried out the survey in the northeastern side of the east-facing Sun temple and a similar exercise will be carried out on Tuesday as well. It had on Sunday completed the GPR survey in Ratna Bhandar of Shree Jagannath temple at Puri.
The Puri circle of ASI plans to excavate the area around the Jagamohan to know if there is any stone lump and stone structure under the soil.
“There are plans to landscape the area. Instead of using machines to implement the work, we decided to know what lies underneath first so that there is no damage when the landscaping work is implemented,” said ASI, Puri circle head, DB Gadnayak adding that DG (excavation) gave permission to conduct the survey.
The GPR survey would reveal the habitational level, water contour and other details of the area, he added. According to literature available about the site, there were around 20 temples around Sun temple.