Speaking Archaeologically™

It all started with a flyer for a conference and from the sudden uprising of feminism in Archaeology—or rather an unprecedented growth of interest in Women in Archaeology amidst the situation of the global pandemic. "But we have more women archaeology students at Speaking Archaeologically than men," argued Simran Kaur Saini as we discussed this in the Research Wing. "Women are an essential part of history and archaeology. They have been so for quite a while. Where's the debate in that?" I had to concur with the argument wholly. I knew more women than men in Archaeology and what women at that! Some of the fiercest scholars, some serious forces to be reckoned with on the field, not to mention several archaeological entrepreneurs I know and liaise with, all of them are women. This task before us, that stemmed out of a Call for Papers invite, was going to be a cakewalk, right? Wrong!  That's because the problem of writing a history of women, their role in and co...

  Ever since I moved to Delhi to pursue my further education, I’ve travelled around a large part of the country to explore several heritage sites and places of cultural importance. Whenever I’m far away from my home or the cultural geography I’m most familiar with, there’s always a sense of adventure and unfamiliarity associated with the new landscape but never fear. Railways have made travelling very safe, easy, and fast which leads to this ease. H owever, it also makes me think about how life would’ve been before the railways were built and the rule of law was established in India. A large chunk of the travel routes in India were fraught with thugs and ‘phansigars’ during the 19th century and British cavalry and soldiers were deployed on these routes to make them safe for the travellers. Captain Sleeman’s writings have, in a rather exaggerated manner, painted the picture of the dangers travellers and pilgrims faced during this time of history where they could be either killed in ...