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Digging up the Past
India through Archaeology
Speaker
Exploring some of the exciting stories from the book such as the discoveries of the Harappan cities and Bhimbetka, and using archaeological resources such as coins and inscriptions, there will be a brief introduction to the world of Indian archaeology. Then, through an interactive process, participants will learn to examine artefacts and read the clues they may reveal. They will be encouraged to ask and answer questions like “How do we know what we know about the past?”, tapping their detective skills to find and interpret archaeological data.
*The session is open to children and interested adults.
About the Book:
Superhero action carved on rocks… A headless statue… Royal inscriptions on pillars and copper plates… Glass fragments from a lost city… These may sound like clips from a fantasy thriller, but are in fact objects unearthed at archaeological sites across the country — and the stories they throw up are just as exciting!
India Through Archaeology: Excavating History tells the story of human habitation in India from prehistoric times to the present through a series of exciting archaeological discoveries — Harappan cities, Bhimbetka, Naneghat, Hampi among others, and through a host of resources like megaliths, hero stones, coins and inscriptions. It highlights the role and methods of the archaeologist in uncovering stories that shape our understanding of the past. Short forays into world archaeology encourage the reader to form a picture of the interconnectedness of ideas, events and influences in our history.
The format is visually vibrant with photographs, maps, illustrations and cartoon strips for a lively first step into the world of archaeology.
“Presents the story of unearthing India’s past in such an engaging fashion that it would be unfair to slot this as children’s reading alone.” — Vaishna Roy in The Hindu
Speaker
Devika Cariapa
Devika Cariapa has written extensively for children. Her book India Through Archaeology: Excavating History (Tulika Publishers) encourages children to explore stories from Indian history through the lens of archaeology. It won the 2019 Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar and the Hindu-Young World Goodbooks Award 2018 for best non-fiction book. Her latest book is the second in Tulika’s India Focus series, India Through People: 25 Gamechangers about twenty-five courageous men and women who left behind an imprint on the course of modern India. In addition to these books, her work has appeared in Open Sesame, the children’s supplement of the Deccan Herald, iDiscoveri books and Tulika Publishers anthology Being Boys. She has also written articles in teacher’s magazines on how to teach history and archaeology to children.
Devika has a Master’s in Archaeology. As a research fellow at the IGNCA, Delhi, she specialised in prehistoric art and was in charge of the prehistoric art gallery being set up at the time. She travelled with scholars from all over the world to historical sites with a focus on the exploration, conservation and cataloguing of prehistoric rock art sites of India. She has also been associated with a number of conservation projects including the Archaeological Survey of India project at Kangra Fort.
