Sealed for 70 years, what BHU found inside 22 boxes from a Varanasi dig

Why in the News

Banaras Hindu University (BHU) opened 22 boxes on 20 August 2026 that had lain unopened for nearly 70 years, and found more than 10,000 artefacts, including painted black pottery believed to be nearly 3,000 years old. The material was excavated from the Rajghat site in Varanasi in 1957, documented, and handed over to the museum of the university’s Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology (AIHC). The excavations at Rajghat were carried out jointly by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and BHU between 1957 and 1969, and were documented in four volumes by the supervising BHU professor, A K Narain, working with the archaeologist T N Roy. A large part of the material recovered was never studied in detail, so a collection excavated before advanced scientific techniques were available in India is now being examined with them.

What is the Rajghat archaeological site?

1. Location: Rajghat lies on the north-eastern edge of Varanasi, near the confluence of the Ganga and the Varuna rivers.
2. Significance: It is one of the most important archaeological sites in the middle Ganga Valley.
3. Historical identity: The area was part of ancient Varanasi, which served as the capital of the Kashi kingdom, also known as the Kashi Mahajanapad.
4. Chronology: Archaeologists have divided the history of the site into six cultural periods, beginning around 800 BC and continuing up to the medieval period.

What did the 22 boxes contain?

1. The artefact count: The boxes held more than 10,000 artefacts in total.
2. The dating anchor: Among them is painted black pottery believed to be nearly 3,000 years old.
3. The object categories: The boxes contain sculptures, ancient coins, tools, stamp seals and objects made of copper, ivory and bone.
4. A separate photographic archive: They also held around 3,000 glass slides and more than 5,000 photographic negatives documenting archaeological sites across India, including Rajghat, Manjhi, Ratnagiri, Ajanta and Ellora.
5. Rare images within the archive: The photographs include rare images of idols of Vishnu, Shiva and Buddha, which are being examined and will be restored as part of the department’s conservation work.
6. The condition of the containers: The trunks were found in an advanced state of deterioration, which makes the recovery and preservation of the material inside particularly significant.

Why do the seals and inscriptions matter?

1. Inscribed seals are present: Several of the seals recovered bear inscriptions, including some written in the Brahmi script.
2. Who will read them: Researchers specialising in epigraphy at BHU will study them, and experts from other universities may be consulted where specialised expertise is required.
3. What they can establish: The inscriptions can help researchers understand the scripts, systems of governance, and trade and economic systems of the periods in which they were used.
4. Seals settled the site’s identity earlier: During the earlier excavations, seals and sealings bearing the name ‘Varanasi’ were found, and these findings helped establish the site’s connection with ancient Varanasi.

Why did the material stay unstudied for 70 years?

1. The site was found by accident: The first archaeological remains at Rajghat were discovered in 1939 during the expansion of the Kashi railway station, and were sent to the ASI for examination.
2. The excavation ran for twelve years: Excavations were carried out jointly by the ASI and BHU between 1957 and 1969, under the supervision of BHU Professor A K Narain and the archaeologist T N Roy.
3. What the excavations found: They unearthed remains of ancient settlements, including structures believed to be houses, terracotta objects, seals and other artefacts, which allowed researchers to trace the development of human settlement at Rajghat over several centuries.
4. Documentation stopped short of study: Professor Narain documented the excavations in four volumes, and a large part of the material recovered was not studied in detail.
5. The techniques did not exist then: The Vice-Chancellor noted that the objects were excavated at a time when advanced scientific techniques for archaeological research were not available in India.

What happens to the material now?

1. Three research teams have been formed: The department has constituted three specialised research teams to conserve and document the material.
2. The stated purpose: The department has undertaken advanced research on its archaeological collections to allow scholars to reassess historical chronologies and produce new insights into ancient Indian civilisation.
3. A parallel recovery is already under way: A month earlier, experts opened a box containing a human skeleton recovered from the same site, which had also remained sealed for around 70 years.
4. Ancient DNA work has begun: A team specialising in ancient DNA collected samples from that skeleton for genetic and bio-archaeological analysis.
5. What that analysis is expected to yield: The analysis is expected to provide clues about the people who lived in Varanasi around 1,000 years ago.

Challenges to studying the Rajghat collection

1. Storage failure precedes study failure: The containers deteriorated over seven decades, so organic material such as ivory and bone may have degraded before any analysis could begin. Eg. The trunks were found in an advanced state of deterioration. Fix. Mandate climate controlled repositories with periodic condition audits for every university excavation collection, funded as part of the excavation licence itself.
2. Excavation records and material get separated: Field notebooks, section drawings and stratigraphic context are what make an artefact interpretable, and material stored apart from its records loses that link. Eg. Four published volumes exist while much of the material they describe was never studied against them. Fix. Require digitisation of excavation records alongside artefact accessioning, with a single catalogue number linking object to context.
3. Specialist capacity is concentrated in a few institutions: Epigraphy, numismatics and ancient DNA analysis each need specialists that most departments holding collections do not employ. Eg. BHU must consult experts from other universities on the inscribed seals. Fix. Create a national roster of accredited specialists with funded secondment to institutions holding unstudied collections.
4. Ancient DNA work needs contamination free handling: Samples handled without protocol over decades carry modern genetic contamination that can invalidate the analysis. Eg. The skeleton from the same site sat sealed for 70 years before sampling. Fix. Establish accredited ancient DNA laboratories with standardised sampling protocols, and train custodial staff before material is opened.
5. Antiquities in transit are exposed to loss: Objects moved between a university museum, a laboratory and a consulting institution leave the custody chain that protects them. Eg. The Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 requires registration precisely because unregistered objects are difficult to trace once lost. Fix. Register every object at accessioning and record each movement against that registration, so custody is traceable at each transfer.
6. Publication lags excavation across the discipline: Excavation reports for many Indian sites remain unpublished decades after fieldwork ended, so the evidence never enters scholarship. Eg. Rajghat’s material sat undescribed from 1957 until 2026. Fix. Make the final excavation report a condition for renewal of an excavation licence, so a new dig cannot begin before the previous one is reported.

Conclusion

BHU has opened the 22 boxes from the Rajghat excavation and recovered the artefact holding and the photographic archive inside them intact. Three specialised research teams have been constituted to conserve and document the material, and epigraphists at the university will read the inscribed seals. The next milestone is the result of the ancient DNA analysis of the skeleton recovered from the same site, which is expected to indicate who lived in Varanasi around a thousand years ago.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2024] Consider the following information: Archaeological Site :: State :: Description 1. Chandraketugarh : Odisha : Trading Port town 2. Inamgaon : Maharashtra : Chalcolithic site 3. Mangadu : Kerala : Megalithic site 4. Salihundam : Andhra Pradesh : Rock-cut cave shrines In which of the above rows is the given information correctly matched? (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 3 and 4 (d) 1 and 4 ANSWER: (b)”