LUCKNOW: Royal burials like chariots, swords and caskets with ornamental motifs along with other remains dating back to 2200BC-1800 BC of the ‘Bronze Age’ have been found at Sanauli village – an
excavation site of Archeological Survey of India, in Baghpat district on Monday.
The remains of a chariot, four copper antenne swords, copper crowns, greyware pottery, wheels (some without spokes), ornaments, helmets, shields, two daggers, seven channel-like objects and human
remains were found following the excavation which had been going on in Sanauli for the last five months since February 15, 2018.
On the basis of the remains excavated from this archeologically rich site indicate that people of that era belonged to warrior class and were habitual of a very sophisticated lifestyle. Not only the swords have copper-covered hilts and a medial ridge making it strong enough for warfare, but the shields, torch and daggers have also been found indicate of classy ways of living.
According to Archaeologist RK Srivastava, that era which dated back to 5,000 years from now, belonged to Harappan civilization and the remains found by the excavators may be of that era only.
“The discovery of a chariot puts us at par with other ancient civilizations, like Mesopotamia, Greece, etc. where chariots were extensively used. It seems a warrior class thrived in this region in
the past,” said SK Manjul, head of the archaeology team and director Institute of Archaeology, ASI. He adds that the findings will throw light on India’s place in the ancient world history.
However, when asked if the remains belonged to ‘Mahabharat’ era, the experts could not say anything with confidence. As on a casket measuring over 8 ft with a skeleton inside was excavated, Srivastava
said it could be of some royal personality of yore. However, the ornaments, comb, mirror, torch, hundreds of small cylindrical paste beads and triangle and rectangular inlays, semiprecious and gold beads, precious stones, pearls and other things indicate that the civilization then existed might have been quite prosperous.
Moreover, royal burial pits have also been found from the site and surprisingly, not very deep under the ground. As per the experts, while at places the remains were spotted at 1-2 ft under the ground, at some other places they had to dig till 5ft to reach the historical remains. Even more, the burial pits have highly
decorative coffin covers bearing floral designs and anthropological figures like horned and peepal leafed crown.
Skeletal remains of full human body have also been found in some of the graves.
However, others have a few human bones along with pots (secondary burials); in yet others, only pots were found indicating symbolic burials. It is amply clear by such a pattern of burials that the person might have died somewhere else and was symbolically buried there, said the experts.
Notably, ASI’s excavation at Sadiqpur in Sanauli in 2005 had spotted around 125 graves with remains of men, women and children as young as 2-3 years, were found. These graves also dated back to 2200-1800 BC. The mass graves then found indicated that people were buried together may be after some natural calamity had struck the region, said Srivastava.
Meanwhile, Manjul claimed that the newest excavations, some 125 metres away from earlier sites, were set to unravel a new historical trail which would consolidate the research and investigation in that
region further.