Salvage Archaeology, in the Indian context: Some specific examples discussed(1)

Salvage Archaeology, in the Indian context: Some specific examples discussed(1)

How Salvage archaeology has been developed?: Development as a result of urban, agricultural, forestry or mining activity has drastically threatened archaeological sites. If that is the case, in India, such developmental activities had been going on for thousands of years, as could be noted from the well-planned cities of IVC (Indus Valley Civilization), SVC (Saraswati Valley Civilization), GVC (Ganges Valley Civilizations) and other areas. Of course, the digging of wells, ponds, lakes and such water resources had been on-going process, whether in rural or urban areas. Salvage archaeology is often necessary in order to collect data before a works process destroys an archaeological site forever. Salvage archaeology has developed as a reaction to the numerous threats affecting archaeological resources, such as modern development, destruction from natural disasters, vandalism, looting during conflict and the illicit trafficking of cultural property. Definitely, such threats have been developing since medieval period, when certain people started claiming that their belief systems alone were original, fundamental and superior to others. There had been groups claiming as “iconoclasts,” who had been destroying the idols, sculptures and artifacts of others. Therefore, such characteristic features also should be studied in the context. The terms ‘salvage’ and ‘emergency’ excavation were first used in the 1950s and 1960s when post-war development was proceeding rapidly and there was a need for archaeological conservation policies to be developed.

Defining the concept of Salvage Archaeology[1]: Salvage archaeology, as an archaeological methodology, is known by different names in academic and professional environments. Internationally, especially in the United Kingdom, the term ‘rescue’ or ‘crisis’ archaeology is often applied. More commonly in Australia however, ‘salvage’ archaeology or to a lesser extent ‘preventive’ archaeology is more commonly used. Then, in Indian context, it covers many aspects, as India has suffered from many such crises, demolitions and destructions. All four names, in one manner or another, seem to express the urgency that underpins the nature of this type of excavation work.

• Renfrew and Bahn (2008:584) define the concept of salvage archaeology as: ‘The location and recording (usually through excavation) of archaeological sites in advance of highwayconstruction, drainage projects or urban development.’
• However, salvage excavations are not always conducted within the urban environment, and should also include those operations which have commenced as a result of agricultural, forestry or mining activity.
• Timothy Darvill (2008:351) presents another definition of salvage archaeology in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. This definition notes that:

… because salvage archaeology is threat-led, it is only rarely possible to be selective about what is examined, and time constraints often mean that many of the more refined techniques of data recovery cannot be deployed.

• Terms such as ‘rescue archaeology’ or ‘preventative archaeology’ are also often used interchangeably when referring to salvage excavation projects. Jones (1984:2) defines rescue archaeology as: ‘archaeological research undertaken to survey or excavate monuments, sites, groups of sites, even extensive surviving ancient landscapes threatened with serious alteration or destruction.’

Few modern examples of Salvage archaeology: When Egypt built the High Dam at the First Cataract to increase the irrigation capacity and the production of electrical power, Lower Nubia, a part of the Nile valley which is exceedingly rich in antiquities, was inundated. The project threatened one of the biggest free air museums in the world with annihilation. The technical and financial achievements in connection with the salvage of the temples especially the two· rock temples of Abu Simbel have been described, discussed and debated by many[2]. In the Inter-Agency Archaeological Salvage Program[3], conducted in USA, it has been explained as to how the area was surveyed, 54 sites identified then excavations started and many petroglyphs, pottery (beautifully painted, designed), bowls, vessels including used for rituals, potsherds, projectiles, shells, shell-articles, copper bells, clay figurines, artifacts of stone, ceramics, and metal, charred cloth, and others recovered and saved.

Examples of salvage archaeology – carried on India: In India, for salvage archaeology, the following have been cited as examples:

• Sardar Sarovar Dam Project,
• the Nagarjunasagar Dam,
• Sri Sailam project
• During the construction of the Narmada Sagar Dam, along with the destruction of the settlement area of the tribal population and the devastation of ecology, a number of archaeological sites had also gone under water. Among these, were a large number of prehistoric sites
• Sinking work on Kuano River Bridge Bankata Ghat between Khajni Vidhan Sabha and Dhanghata Vidhan Sabha in Distt Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.
• Sendrayanpalayam village, Attirampakkam even Kizhadi are not protected.

These are only for illustrative purpose and not exhaustive, as perhaps India has millions  of chalcolithic, megalithic, Neolithic and other sites all over the country. And millions of temples monuments and forts have been surviving at remote places without any protection. People visit rarely such remote places, either due to enthusiastic curiosity or for some specific field study.

How government has been helpless in many cases are also pointed out:  It is not that the central government has not been able to control the activities taking place, but, the regionalism, many times react with sectarianism, racism, linguistic jingoism and so on wit tall and exclusive claims.

• In 2018, an independent researcher highlighted that construction of a government medical college and a hospital had begun on an important prehistoric site in Maharashtra before the area could be studied in detail. And in central India, a site called Hathnora, which has yielded the oldest known human ancestor fossil in the country, lies unprotected on the banks of the Narmada River, threatened by erosion and relentless human bustle.
• In 2018, ASI eased the restrictions. If Someone had filed a plea to deprotect the site, the court then would ask ASI to investigate and give details of the site, After some trial excavations, the ASI submit to the court that although the site has been encroached, it has archaeological potential to remain. While researchers are fencing off some areas, they cannot protect the whole site. Several  versions of this conflict over land have played out across the country.
• Across the country, the ASI struggles to find the resources to manage heritage sites. And without adequate protection, sites are frequently vandalized and artifacts and fossils stolen for personal collection or sale.
• In 2019, India’s minister of culture and tourism, Prahlad Singh Patel, told the upper house of parliament that more than 300 monuments and sites listed as protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the government body that manages the country’s archaeological heritage, had been encroached in some form.
• In eastern India, multiple former prehistoric sites located in the Ayodhya hills of West Bengal are now agricultural fields. The only prehistoric areas that haven’t been transformed are those on very rugged terrain where tilling the land is hard.

India’s past is disappearing rapidly: With sites holding the evidence of India’s past rapidly disappearing, researchers worry about whether complex questions about humankind’s distant past can be answered. “We cannot say we don’t want this development because people’s welfare and development is equally important,” says Paddayya. But given the scale of that development, “a lot of the sites are getting destroyed.” This apathy towards prehistoric sites and artifacts, stems from a lack of awareness about what prehistoric sites. Prehistoric sites tend to be subtle, lacking the tangible, attractive features, nobody pays any attention. Correcting that would require a massive awareness program. The concern of these archaeologists is appreciated, but, when they were in service, they were keeping silent only or carrying out their duties faithfully and diligently satisfying their masters. No doubt, they can continue to campaign and create awareness among the public, but the disciplines of archaeology, history and historiography should be free from bias, prejudice and manipulations.

© K. V. Ramakrishna Rao

14-01-2021

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[1] Christian Fielder, Current Techniques of Using Salvage Archaeology, New South Wales,  2013.

[2] Torgn, Y Save-Soderbergh, International Salvage Archaeology-Some organizational and technical aspects of the Nubian campaign, ALMQVIST & WIKSELL, Stockholm, 1972.

[3] William W. Wasley, and Alfred E. Johnson, Salvage archaeology in Painted rocks, The University of Arizon Press, Tuscon, 1965.