Scope of Urban Archaeology in India
Urban archaeology is the study of archaeology in an urban setting. Bert Salwen, who is considered as the father of archaeology, distinguished urban archaeology in two forms – archaeology of cities and archaeology in cities. When archaeological study is executed in a specific site within a city, it can be called as a work of ‘archaeology in cities’. When the same is done to construct the history or pre-history of the whole city, it can be called as a work of ‘archaeology of cities’. Ever since scholars tend to have an idea of progress after Enlightenment and were curious about the antiquity of humankind, many historic cities have been studied. The archaeological exploration of Pompeii and Herculaneum is a perfect example of this. Though the archaeological studies executed to reconstruct the
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Desktop survey techniques like studying archived historical documents including legal documents, tax records, pictorial records and written accounts provide useful information about a particular archaeological unit. Oral history is of very special importance in cases where no physical documents are available. Exploration through maps is also vital in urban archaeological work. Excavations in urban areas is hard to do due to dense population and extensive use of land. It may only be done when a building or structure is being demolished for renovation or urban construction processes. This, too, is very costly as heavy-digging is needed to remove the upper layers of the earth and it requires heavy digging tools. Stratigraphy is also often of complex nature and requires a lot of time for excavation. The rewarding nature of urban archaeological excavation is that common people get easy access to the sites as it happens right in the middle of the city. People also get aware of the unknown history of the urban centres they live in or commute