Wari-Bateshwar

Very recently, the newly established Department of Archaeology in Jahangirnagar University has been playing a significant and fruitful role in probing new fields in the archaeology of Bangladesh. Their two pioneering achievements have been in the domain of prehistory and 'early history' of Bangladesh. Their recent work in Wari-Bateswar (Wari-Bateshvar) has established an 'early historic' horizon, 4th - 3rd century BC - Mauryan, perhaps pre-Mauryan - in southeast Bengal (Vanga-Samatata) like Mahasthangarh in northern Bengal (Pundravardhana). Wari and Bateshwar are two contiguous villages in the Narsingdi area of greater Dhaka and are known for various surface finds of minor antiquities. Among them, the most significant are stone (fossilwood) tools, punch-marked coins in thousands, and also thousands of semi-precious stone beads - many of which are unfinished, indicating that they were manufactured locally.

This is however a site where no mounds have been found. A respected local family, the Pathans - Hanif Pathan and his son Habibullah Pathan - have built up a family collection of these ancient relics and have been trying persistently since 1933 to project the importance of the site by writing in journals and publishing books about them. Also, NK Bhattasali visited the site and reported on it in 1935-36.

What is significant is that several miles around Wari and Bateshwar there are sites bearing punch-marked coins establishing the cultural, political and economic importance of the entire region. There are several early medieval sites around, for instance Belavo (Bhojavarman copperplate inscription) and Ashrafpur (2 copperplate inscriptions of Deva Khadga) which speak of the continuity of the importance of the area over a long period. The Archaeology Department of Jahangirnagar University has been investigating the site since 1989 and in 2000 a joint excavation in the nature of trial digging was carried out by Jahangirnagar University, International Centre for Study of Bengal Art (ICSBA), and the government Archaeology Directorate. A preliminary report has come out recently, and has been published by ICSBA. However, much more work is needed to establish the nature of the site. That it goes back to 'early historic' times of the subcontinental chronological frame work - 4th-3rd century BC - is now certain. But the details of the nature and extent of the culture, and the reason why it is here at all, are points to be worked out. Its connection with some kind of maritime activities has been postulated. The picture is still blurred and it will take many years before we get a clearer view.