Heritage tour to Vadnagar help citizens discover archaeological treasures

AHMEDABAD: The Ahmedabad Heritage department is making various efforts to pique the citizens' interest in history and archeology, as Ahmedabad gears up for the status of World Heritage City.
The department, along with the Archaeology department, had organized a tour to Vadnagar - an ancient city in Gujarat, which has history dating back almost 4,500 years.The participants who went on the tour were from various fields such as art students and historians. Vadnagar offers a treasure of history like no other site in Gujarat. The place has been inhabited by six different dynasties over the 4,500 years along with the Maurya dynasty.
"Archaeological remains so far recovered indicate that the regular human occupation in this part of the town began possibly around the foundation of the settlement i.e. before 3rd century BC. Each layer provides a deeper understanding of the various dynasties of this timeless city. We excavated the site to search for Buddhist monastries as described by seventh Century Chinese traveler Hsuan -Tsang. We later discovered a well preserved monastary within the city walls, a very unusual occurance" said Mukesh Padhiyar, archeologist, member of the first archeological team at Vadnagar.
Ram Brahmbhatt, a law Student said "I have always been interested in history but seeing the excavation sites first hand made me realize the timelessness of the place. The archeologists gave us an insight on how history is discovered."
While a few came out of interest, many students came looking for inspiration from the site. Bhavin Patel, an art student from LD College explained "We are art students and I had gone to Vadnagar to gain inspiration from the structures and carvings but what I saw there made me realize that the creating history is not about writing books but about digging up sites and spending hours around these objects. I would like to get more people to know about such sites. We as art students can help archeologists catalogue their findings."
Kapil Thakkar of AMC explains the motive behind the tour, "The newer generations are forgetting the history of the place gradually. While they read a lot about Rome and Greece on the internet, they are oblivious to how such history is created and the magnitude of the work that goes behind it."