Excavation site at PuranaQila

For the first time, visitors witnessed an open excavation site in early 2014 at PuranaQila, one of the oldest forts situated in the heart of Delhi. Enclosed with a glass covering, the visitors were able to see without climbing down into the trenches. Earlier digs at the PuranaQila, in 1954-55 and 1969-73 had yielded relics from the Sultanate period (1206-1526 AD). The excavations of the 1970s threw up pottery from 300 BC, leading the Archaeological Survey of India historians to believe that ‘the fort site was part of the mythological Indraprastha, built by the Pandava prince Yudhishtira.’

Present digs have yielded fragments of clay pottery, terracotta pots, stems, beads of semi-precious stones like carnelian, terracotta figurines of animals, and broken pieces of bangles. Besides these, the major finds have been the wall of a house from the Sultanate period and a stone-paved drain of the Mughal period.