Artefacts include several terracotta human and animal figurines dating back to pre and early Christian era.

Key Highlights A new archaeological find could rewrite the history of the Sunderbans and set the clock back by more than 20 centuries

The history of the Sunderbans area can be traced back to 200-300 AD in folklore

The artefacts include several terracotta human and animal figurines dating back to pre and early centuries of the Christian era

KOLKATA: A new archaeological find could rewrite the history of the Sunderbans and set the clock back by more than 20 centuries. Scientists have stumbled upon a cache of remains that indicates the existence of an ancient civilisation in the mangroves dating back to the Mauryan period (322-185 BC). The civilisation, significantly, lasted for the next 500-600 years.

In folklore, the history of the Sunderbans area can be traced back to 200-300 AD. The area was first mapped in 1764 soon after British East India Company obtained proprietary rights from Mughal emperor Alamgir II in 1757. So, the forests may be more than ivory gamesmen, miniature pots, pastel, semiprecious stone beads, net sinkers and pot shards. These have been collected from the Dhanchi and Bijwara forests in the tiger reserve area of Sunderbans over the last 22 years.

Mishra is all praise for fisherman Biswajit Sahu, who painstakingly pieced together the remains and preserved them at his home. “He knows nothing of archaeology, nor did he know what the Mauryan era meant. But his instinct guided him to preserve these artefacts,” he said. Sahu has collected more than 15,000 artefacts and continues to collect more during fishing trips to the different islands.

The exploration at Gobardhanpur in Pathar Pratima block -by a team led by Phanikanta Mishra, regional director (eastern region) of Archaeological Survey of India -is likely to rekindle the long-standing colonial historiography debate that it was the British who made the inaccessible mangroves habitable.

The artefacts include several terracotta human and animal figurines dating back to pre and early centuries of the Christian era, terracotta lumps bearing impressions of seals dating back to the early historical period, terracotta rattles, toys and pendants, herman Biswajit Sahu, who painstakingly pieced together the remains and preserved them at his home. “He knows nothing of archaeology, nor did he know what the Mauryan era meant. But his instinct guided him to preserve these artefacts,“ he said.Sahu has collected more than 15,000 artefacts and continues to collect more during fishing trips to the different islands.

A large number of skeletons, bone fragments, skulls and teeth of wild, domestica ted and aquatic animals are also part of Sahu's collection.All the objects have been kept in a random manner in a recently constructed building.

An analysis of the collections indicates that a wide variety of antiquities date back to the Mauryan era (3rd century BC) and the early centuries of the Christian era.“My preliminary study finds that the civilisation went on from the Mauryan era to the Sunga era and continued through the early Gupta era.It probably ended in the later Gupta era,“ Mishra said.

Mishra is, however, intrigued by the missing link of the civilisation with modern human settlement. “It is a matter of mystery how the civilisation suddenly disappeared. We will study it further.“

