Speaking Archaeologically™

Our 2017 Research Wing has been out and about since they joined us last September. Watch this short video summarising their activities so far.

Let the rooms be filled with shared beliefs and the walls speak of a cultural blend Let the doors open to rediscover and preserve a forgotten heritage. Indo Saracenic or a blend of Indian and Persian art has left its permanence in the history of India. Be it during the period of the greatest dynasty, that is, the Mughals or after its decline, this style continued to flourish in the schools of Deccan, Rajasthan and Punjab Hills even under the British Raj. With the popularity of Miniature paintings and the European influence during the end of Akbar's reign, the detailing, realistic appearance, use of soft or bright colours and embellishments made this form of Art and Architecture stand out. With an aim of reviving the Indo Saracenic art form and letting it highlight one's own culture and heritage, the last Workshop of Speaking Archaeologically proved to be an opportunity for the young artists to showcase their talent. The Government Degree College at Kandaghat, distr...

It was close to the end of 2015 when Tarannum and I get a text from Shriya. Seeing our knack for art, we were offered the ginormous task of making the official logos for Speaking Archaeologically. Each one of us had to make three drafts  out of which  only one would be finalised as the SA logo. To make things easier for us,  the panel off ered to exempt us from the upcoming tasks, t o  aid us focus on the logos. Now  this is where the pact of secrecy came  into existence. So, S hriya informs the volunteers that their partners ( the tasks being partnership ones) Tarannum and Aditi w ould not be taking part in the upcoming essays as we were involved in a "Special Task". Now all this made us sound important and gave us the edge over the others except that after a while it became absolutely crushing to keep  the secret , specially for me! Now  every  single volunteer  w anted to know about this so called "S pecial Task" that Tarannum a...

In our last post, you read how an idiosyncratic Panel of five archaeologists started posting their findings on the Facebook page Speaking Archaeologically,  drawing interested people and parties from all over the world. Today's post is about what happened next! Within two months of its inception,  the Panelists began to receive  invites and emails from several amateurs and professionals to visit new towns and cities, with lost archaeological stories and historical anecdotes, so that, they could include them on the Global Archaeological Map.  Travelling to all these sites was, however,  impossible for the Panel. Long journeys, international flights and brain wracking archaeological work is not easily done, especially when one has to rely on personal finances for the work, after all! This gave birth to Phase II of Speaking Archaeologically: something the Panelists christened   Citizen  Archaeology .  Drawing inspiration from th...

The post that changed it all! Speaking Archaeologically is "[A]n archaeologist's attempt to start a platform for all freelance archaeologists and volunteers to further the cause of archaeology worldwide!" Well easier said than done. An idea is all that is needed to seed great works. One such idea came to be known as Speaking Archaeologically. It all started with the picture of a palace which grew into an organisation. On a fateful day in the early months of 2015, a young girl is struck by two pictures of a palace in Himachal Pradesh (a province in the northern India) which had been in shadows for a long time. Upon her mother's suggestion, these pictures were posted on social media Facebook. However, what happened next was unanticipated. The pictures not only received an overwhelming response from people all over the globe but there were also requests flooding in with people sharing their pictures of lost/unacknowledged heritages. As it was to be,...