BHU team unearths 4,000-yr-old crafts village in Varanasi

NEW DELHI :

A NEARLY 4,000-year-old urban settlement has been unearthed by a team of surveyors from the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), which experts say could be one of the craft villages mentioned in ancient texts. The university’s Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, which did the preliminary survey of the site in Babhaniyav village, 13 km from Varanasi, said it found remnants of one of the settlements mentioned in ancient literature about the holy city.

The survey found a temple dating back to the 5th century through 8th century, potteries which are 4,000-year-old and walls which are 2,000-year-old, said Professor A K Dubey of the BHU department. “On the basis of the surface materials we can say the structure is anywhere between 3,500 to 4,000 year old,” said Dubey, who is part of the team which will start excavation at the site from February 23. He said the site gains significance because of its proximity to Varanasi, which is said to be 5,000 years old, though modern scholars believe it to be around 3,000 years old.