Finding Forgotten Cities - Nayanjot Lahiri

How the Indus Civilization was Discovered

Just a century ago, scholars believed that civilization in the Indus Valley began three thousand years ago during the Vedic Age. 

But in the autumn of 1924, John Marshall made an announcement that rocked the understanding of the ancient world and pushed back the boundaries of Indian history by two thousand years more: the discovery of the civilization at Harappa, located in present-day Sindh and Punjab, Pakistan. 

A sophisticated culture dating back to 2600 BCE, this ancient city was notable for its well-planned streets and for having the oldest known urban sanitation system.

Based on previously unknown archival materials, Finding Forgotten Cities not only details an archeological discovery on the same scale as Troy, but introduces us to the colorful cast of characters who made it possible and overcome the challenges and travails of this colossal excavation. 

Nayanjot Lahiri’s fascinating history includes tales of self-taught archaeologists like Charles Masson, the collector who first described an ancient Indus Valley culture, as well as Alexander Cunningham, the archaeological pioneer who first excavated Harappa with diggers Daya Ram Sahni, Rakhaldas Banerji, and Madho Sarup Vats in the 1850s.  

And, at the center of Lahiri’s story is John Marshall, a Cambridge classicist brought by Lord Curzon to India to lead the Archaeological Survey of India and the man who finally pieced together the truth about this long-forgotten civilization.

Spanning nearly a century, Finding Forgotten Cities presents a powerful narrative history of one of the key sites of the ancient world offers interesting insight into the origins of modern civilization.

[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com ] 

Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 4.0 out of 5 (25 Ratings; 6 Reviews - As on December 23 2016)
My Rating:  4 out of 5
My Comments: A fascinating narrative of how Indus Valley civilization was discovered. 
Some digressions from the main story line though equally interesting breaks the flow. 
These details could have been provided as separate appendix chapters. 
Apart from this it is an excellent read!


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The Buddha and Dr Fuhrer by Charles Allen

An Archaeological Scandal
This true account of the scandal that enveloped the discovery in 1898 of an inscribed casket said to contain the ashes of the Buddha, is set against the background of the high noon of the British Raj. 
In January 1898 a British landowner, William Claxton Peppé, excavated a large Buddhist brick stupa on his estate close to India’s border with Nepal.
 At a depth of 24 feet he uncovered a huge stone coffer containing a number of reliquary vases together with jewels and gold offerings. 
This discovery was followed by the opening of the Piprahwa stupa near the birthplace of the Buddha, Lumbini, and the legendary city of Kapilavastu where he had grown into manhood as Prince Siddhartha. 
But more importantly, an inscription had been discovered on top of one of the caskets, declaring it to contain the ashes of the Buddha left there by members of his own Sakya clan. 
This news aroused world-wide interest since no other so well authenticated relics of the Buddha had ever been found. 
But almost immediately it became known that a German archaeologist, Dr Anton Führer, working nearby at the same time had not only made bogus claims and faked his results but had also been associated with the dig.  
Führer was quickly unmasked by a British magistrate who himself had a stake in the excavation. 
Renowned India expert Charles Allen tells this fascinating story, weaving in the results of a conference held at Harewood House in June 2006 on the Piprahwa dig with those of recent carbon dating.

[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com, www.amazon.in ] 

Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 3.78 out of 5 (9 Ratings, 2 Reviews)

My Rating:  3 out of 5 
My Comments: Interesting read for archaeology enthusiasts! 


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