Archaeological site 20km from Kolkata yields 2,000-year-old artefacts – Times of India

KOLKATA: Researchers have come across an archaeological mound on the edge of New Town and East Kolkata Wetland – barely 20 km from the city and the nearest such find – that has thrown up pieces of pottery and building material which experts claim are over 2,000 years old.
The one-acre site in Kochpukur mouza of Bamanghata gram panchayat in Bhangar II Block of South 24 Parganas is the first substantial archaeological site located in the oldest deltaic plain, the researchers say.

Shards of grey ware pottery found at the site
The site, they believe, can provide a crucial link between archaeological sites in North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas like Chandraketugarh in the moribund delta, Clive House in Dum Dum and other sites located further south within the mangrove marsh.
Moumita Saha, a teacher, first learnt of Kochpukur from the book ‘Lavan Hrader Upakatha’ by Bhupesh Kumar Pramanick and visited the area in mid-2020. “I spoke with local farmers and fishermen to learn about the local history and myths,” said Saha, also a researcher at Deshkal, an initiative involved in research. In end-2021, she and Calcutta University environment science department assistant professor Punarbasu Chaudhuri visited the place again in search of rare trees and medicinal plants and stumbled upon the artefacts.
“During a field visit, we came across the mound and a mazhar atop it known as ‘Baba Madar Shaheber Kabarsthan’. We were asked to take our shoes off to visit the shrine and I felt something prick my feet. When I stopped to see what these broken materials were, we got hold of the artefacts. They were scattered all over the place and had grooves and paddle marks. The striations caught my eye and I collected them for an expert opinion,” Chaudhuri said. The mound also intrigued Chaudhuri, since such a mound indicates the existence of a village or a village market during early settlements.