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Excavation resumes at Wari-Bateshwar

EMRAN I lOSSAIN, back from Narslngdl
Archaeologists yesterday resumed excavation work at Wari-Bateshwar in Narslngdi, hoping to discover more structures and evidence of the 2,500-year-old civilisation that once flourished there.
"We have started the excavation work at a small scale without any fund and we must continue it amid all hardships," said Prof Sufi Mostafizur Rahman who is leading the excavation team comprising students of the Department of Archaeology at Jahangirnagar University (JU).
He said it is their responsibility to continue the work which might lead to the discovery of a national treasure.
“We have to continue the work within our limited capacity as no better scope is available right now," he told The Daily Star yesterday.
Officials of mobile phone company Grameen Phone (GP) Ltd,
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which sponsored the excavation work in 2006 and 2007, at the inaugural ceremony of the excavation work for 2008 said yesterday they hope to sponsor the excavation work this year also and will make a decision on the matter as early as possible.
"We funded the excavation work in 2006 and 2007. Now we are looking forward to continue the funding as it is definitely a national heritage site,” said Director of Public Relations Department of GP Syed Yamin Bakht, adding that they are satisfied with the progress of the earlier excavation work.
One of the significant discoveries made during the excavation which began in 2000, is the 180-metre long, six-metre wide and 21-35cm thick road with a by-lane which challenged the established idea that there was no urbanisation in the region.
Ihe other major discovery -- a pit-dwelling, where people lived in small ditches -- is considered to be more than 4,000 years old. No such tiling has been found in the region earlier. Similar dwellings, discovered in India and Pakistan, also date back to the same period.
The excavation also unearthtd terracotta plaque, stone bids and currency-reservoir including the oldest inscribed silver-coins in the Indian subcontinent that added a new chapter to the history of (he country.
The findings of the excavation in 2007 include part of a brick-made structure which seems to be shaped as an inverted pyramid. It Is the oldest brick-made structure in Bangladesh till date.
Eminent historian and President of Asiatic Society Bangladesh (ASB)
Prof Sirajul Islam, inaugurated the excavation work at the site under Belabo upazila, which is about 70-km off the capital.
Barrister Tania Amir, Additional Deputy Commissioner Mustafa Kamal, Pro-Vice Chancellor of JU Prof Mohammad Moniruzzaman and local archaeologist Habib Ullah Pathan, whose father Hanif Pathan first identified the signs of existence of industries at the site in the 1930s, amongothers, were present.
"'The site belongs to the people. It represents culture, economy and a secular past of the people of this area. It is unique and cannot be compared with any other thing.” said Sirajul Islam.
He told the Daily Star that the government must provide enough funding for excavation and employ both local and foreign experts in it.
Tania Amir said when she saw the site it seemed to be a fairyland to her. "'There is a lot to learn from the things of the past which lie underneath the earth,” she added.
The speakers at the inaugural ceremony stressed the need for a sustainable conservation to protect the heritage site, evaluation of the findings from the site by local and foreign experts and setting up a museum in the area to make people aware about the country's history.
The Daily Star and Channel-i are media partners of the excavation work.
Hanif Pathan, a local school teacher, discovered the existence of ancient civilisation at Wari-Bateshwar in 1930. A team from the Archaeology Department of JU started excavating the site in 2000. The Daily Star funded the excavation in 2002 while The Asiatic Society in 2004.