Excavation at Siyapur

The Book "Excavations at Siyapur" contains the short history and archaeological wealth of district Kannauj of Uttar Pradesh. This is a report on the archaeological excavations carried on the site during the field season of 2003-04. The report contains general information about the site, details of cuttings, pottery, antiquities and other related aspects.

Dr. D.P. Tewari is presently a Professor in Department of Ancient Indian History and Archaeology, University of Lucknow. He has excavated 12 archaeological sites and reports published are Excavations at Charda, Excavations at Pirvitani Sarif -Trilokpur, Excavations at Saunphari and Explorations in Ganga Plain, Antiquarian Remains from Kalli Pachchhim Excavations and Excavations at Madanapur. His other excavated sites are Sanchankot, Kampil, Naimisaranya, Sapaur, and Ahirua Rajarampur. Dr. Tewari has completed five Major Projects and published 64 articles. He is also holding the responsibilities of President, History and Culture Society, New Delhi.

The present work of archaeological excavations at Siyapur was carried out in a Major Research Project entitled Archaeology of Ganga Plain including the districts of Unnao, Hardoi, Kannauj, Farrukhabad, Shahjahanpur, Pilibhit, Khiri-Lakhimpur, and Sitapur sanctioned by University Grants Commission, New Delhi. In the first phase of work village to village explorations were completed and at second stage one or two prominent sites were selected for excavations to determine the cultural sequence and other archaeological aspects of the district in this regard.

Site of Siyapur attracted us for excavations due to pottery found on the mound specially a dish on stand in black slipped ware. Although Painted Grey Ware and Northern Black Polished ware in association with red ware were collected in good quantity. The location of the site concerned was also interesting as it was located on the right bank of river Ishan a tributary of river Ganga and also very near to Kannauj a city of historical importance.

In the field season of 2003-04 we excavated the site at a limited scale. in three trenches and the concerning report was prepared in the same year. One of my team members Dr. Chanchala Srivastava. Scientist, Birbal Sahani Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow collected seed samples through flotation and tried to prepare its report but in spite of several requests she could not finalize it till the date and ultimately the publication remained in pendency.

I am very much thankful to our team members of excavation specially Dr. Durgesh Srivastava, Dr. Shambhoo Nath Yadava and students of PG. Diploma in Archaeology and Museology of session 2003-04 who actively participated in the field work and in preparing the report. I am highly thankful to Shri J.S. Nigam, retired Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India for his guidance, valuable suggestions and active support in field work and also finalizing this report. I extend my thanks to Dr. Simina Margareta Stanc Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of lasi, Faculty of Biology, Iasi, Romania who studied the faunal material of the site and submitted its report which is already published. I am grateful to University Grants Commission, New Delhi for sanctioning this Major Research Project, Archaeological Survey of India and State of Uttar Pradesh for granting permission for the excavations on the site and Head of the Department of Ancient Indian History and Archaeology, University of Lucknow for their humble and kind support.

I am extremely happy to write the foreword of the report "Excavations at Siyapur" by D. P. Tewari who has worked on this project with a team of experts for a season. The site is located on the bank of Ishan river, a tributary of river Ganga at the distance of 15 kilometers north-east of district headquarters of Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh. The report is divided into eight chapters with references and a brief bibliography.

The Chapter I deals the location of site and its environment, whereas in chapter II he has described the cuttings and chronology of the site. In a 8.20 meters deposit from the highest point, it is divided into 20 layers having four cultural periods starting from pre-PGW, PGW, NBPW and Kushana period. In period I a red ware, black slipped ware, black and red ware and grey ware were noticed, whereas from period II Painted Grey ware along with a fragmentary iron nail was found. The next period III a red ware contemporaneous to NBPW was found. The last period Kushan yielded typical Kushana red ware decorated with incised designs in horizontal and oblique lines.

A Comparative study from the excavation of this site located in mid of central doab clearly shows that the lowest level yielding OCP is no more present in this region after Baharia in district Sahajanpur. However, excavation carried out at Atranjikhera, Jakhera, Noh in Bharatpur district revealed a separate horizon between PGW and OCP known as black and red ware or black slipped ware etc. along with four pieces of copper objects a broken ring and three beads were reported from upper level of Atranjikhera. At Allahapur (Meerut District) black-and-red dominated in two layers above natural soil. In period I at Siyapur no iron was found, whereas at Atranjikhera and other sites iron was in PGW period III.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages