Bhubaneswar, June 19: Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday requested Minister of Tourism and Culture G Kishan Reddy to take over the excavation and preservation of a recently discovered 2,000-year-old post-Mauryan site at Barpali in Baragarha district.
In a letter to Reddy, he said he was informed that the monumental was discovered by the History department of Gangadhar Meher University, Baragarha.
Around 60 students, research scholars and faculty of the History department started the excavation on may 31,2022.
The site spread over 17 acres of land has yielded numerous, priceless artefacts and antiquities dating back to the post-Mauryan period, which was about 2,000 years ago.
The findings Pradhan said, indicated that the site was a well-established trade centre and further digging could perhaps reveal more things.
Stating that the archaeological site is rare and extremely vulnerable, Pradhan sought the personal intervention of the Union Tourism and Culture Minister and requested him to direct the officials of ASI to take over the site for better exploration, examination, analysis and security of the priceless antiquities and historical wealth.
