Mongalkote archaeological site is located in

Purba Bardhaman Purba Bardhaman district is in the Indian state of West Bengal. Its headquarters is in Bardhaman. It was formed on 7 April 2017 after the division of the previous Bardhaman district. Great revolutionary Rash Behari Bose was born in village Suba ...

district of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. Archeological excavations have revealed seven phases of cultural significance between 2000 BC to 1800 AD. After a detailed study of all the finds from this region, it has been possible to determine seven levels of human settlement. Period I represent the

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

era; Period II agricultural era; Period III is the

Maurya The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary sourc ...

- Sunga period; Period IV relates to the

Kusana The Kushan Empire (– CE) was a Syncretism, syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of what is now Afghanistan, Eastern Iran, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbe ...

period; Period V is the

Gupta Gupta () is a common surname of Indian origin, meaning "guardian" or "protector". Origins and distribution The name is based on the Sanskrit word गोप्तृ ''goptṛ'', which means "guardian" or "protector". According to historian ...

era; And Periods VI and VI are the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

period.

Location

It is situated on the right bank of the Kunur river and south of the

Ajay river The Ajay (/ˈədʒɑɪ/) is a river which flows through the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The catchment area of Ajay River is . See also List of rivers of India With a land area of consisting of diverse ecosystems, Indi ...

at Natunhat in

district. The archaeological site is geographically located at 23 degrees 31 minutes north latitude and 87 degrees 53 minutes east longitude.

History

Historian

R. D. Banerji Rakhal Das Banerji, also Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay (12 April 1885 – 23 May 1930), was an Indian archaeologist and an officer of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). In 1919, he became the second ASI officer deputed to survey the site of ...

came to this place in 1915 AD, but no excavation was undertaken at that time. Ekadi Das approached the Director of Archeology Department,

Government of West Bengal The Government of West Bengal, also known as the West Bengal Government, is the Administrative division, principal administrative authority of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal, created by the Constitution ...

in 1962 AD and gave him some copper coins, which are now preserved in the Ashutosh Museum. Finally, a series of excavations were conducted from 1986 AD to 1990 AD,

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

's Department of Archeology participated in the excavation.

References

{{Reflist, 3 Archaeological sites in West Bengal