Excavations reveal 12 layers of habitations in Kolkata

Excavations reveal 12 layers of habitations in Kolkata

• During the recent excava­tions at a mound outside the Robert Clive House in Dum Dum, the Kolkata Circle of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) found evidence of settlements that can be al­most 2,000 years old.
• It revealed not only antiqui­ties, pottery and charcoal but also almost 12 different layers of habitations.
• It confirms that the city is not mere­ly a colonial city or the late medieval occupancy of local zamindars but had habita­tions from the first century CE (current era).
• The Clive House stands on a mound on Rastraguru Ave­nue and is one of the oldest buildings in Kolkata and its adjoining surroundings.
• The building is a fine specimen of the colonial architecture and Robert Clive, first British Go­vernor of the Bengal Presi­dency, used this building as a country house.
• Robert Clive decided to use the building as his residence be­cause of strategic reasons as the site at Dum Dum is close to Chan­draketugarh in North 24 Par­ganas district where the ex­cavations in the 1950s and the 1960s had revealed al­most a continuous sequence of occupations, divided into six periods from the pre­-Mauryan to the Pala period.
• The ASI is planning more excavations at the site.