Till not so long ago, our rich and varied past lay buried, quite literally, beneath our feet. It was only in the last 200 years or so that evidence of long-forgotten dynasties, edicts etched by powerful emperors and even entire civilisations that we never knew existed came to light.

As archaeologists began to peel back the layers of time at digs across the length and breadth of this great land, the mind-boggling story of the Indian subcontinent began to emerge. The late 19th and early 20th centuries marked an era of significant archaeological discoveries, a period during which many ancient sites were uncovered and inscriptions and manuscripts translated.

Many of India’s great discoveries were made by the British in India . Among these were British archaeologists, historians and Indologists like Alexander Cunningham, who founded the Archaeological Survey of India; John Marshall, who is credited with discovering the Indus Valley Civilisation; Mortimer Wheeler, one of the most significant 20th century archaeologists; James Prinsep, who deciphered the Kharosthi and Brahmi scripts; and William Jones, who first observed the relationship between the Indo-European languages.

Armed with obvious advantages, these Europeans were indeed pioneers in the early years of discovery. Sadly, we don’t remember the contribution of some of the subcontinent’s great Indian archaeologists, who did the ground work on these sites. These archaeologists and scholars continued where their predecessors left off and are still writing chapters of India’s glorious history. Let’s revisit our trailblazers and their ground-breaking work.