For nearly seventy years scholars had been aware of the surface finds of silver punch-marked coins, semi-precious stone beads, iron slags, pottery etc. from the twin villages of Wari-Bateshwar, Narsingdi district, Bangladesh. As no systematic archaeological investigation had been carried out so far in the region, The International Centre for Study of Bengal Art (ICSBA) undertook, with permission from the Government, a small scale trial excavation which was carried out in 2000. The exercise offered significant result. It placed Wari in the Early Historic period. NBPW, Rouletted Ware and Knobbed Ware were found in this remote eastern part of Bangladesh. A large number of chips, flakes and cores from excavation and a few pieces of raw material finds of jasper and quartz from earlier exploration absolutely proved the existence of a semi-precious stone bead manufacturing center. Iron slags and smelted tiny parts of iron have also been found. The small-scale investigation leading to discovery of Rouletted Ware, Knobbed Ware, stone beads etc., particularly in the context of the geo-location of Wari-Beteshwar, inevitably indicates to southeast Asiatic and Roman contacts.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Enamul Haque
Professor Enamul Haque had his M.A. in History (Archaeology Group) from Dhaka (1960), Diploma in Museology from London (1964) and Doctorate in South Asian Art from Oxford (1973). For three decades since 1962 he served the Dhaka Museum and rose to be the Founder Director General of the Bangladesh National Museum, developing it to be the largest Museum in the Third World. He was for a year (1990) Secretary-in-charge of the Ministry of Culture of Bangladesh. He also taught Art History, Museology and National Heritage in the universities of Dhaka and Jahangirnagar, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology, and the Independent University at Dhaka. An organizer of exceptional ability, he is the Founder Chairman (since 1995) and Academic Director of The International Centre for Study of Bengal Art (ICSBA) at Dhaka, convened four International Congresses on Bengal Art (1976, 1997, 1999 and 2001) and edits the Journal of Bengal Art. He was honoured by the Asiatic Society of Calcutta with the award of the Rama Prasad Chanda Birth Centenary Medal (1993) for his "conspicuous contribution in art and archaeology of Bengal". Earlier, the Asia Society of New York honoured him by electing as their Honorary International Councilor (1986-92). He served as the President of the International Council of Museum (ICOM) Asia Pacific Organization (1983-86). Among his publications, notables are Islamic Art Heritage of Bangladesh (1983) and Bengal Sculptures: Hindu Iconography (1992), the latter being a quantitative assessment of nearly two thousand sculptures now preserved in different parts of the world.
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