Archaeology and Research in the History of Kashmir- Perspectives and Concerns

Abstract

Research in history is digging into the past through multidisciplinary approach, with the requisites of professionalism, critical aptitude, technical erudition, analytical mind and incisive faculty to reconstruct the past and to elaborate, analyze, synthesize, philosophize the ideas and critically examine the data in the light of objectivity. Historical research is primarily based on literary and archaeological sources. Literary sources are more or less infected of personal bias and prejudice by the author or interpreter. So, here archaeology comes to rescue for reconstructing comparatively an unbiased history. Archaeology is an auxiliary science or ancillary discipline with its numerous approaches, which assist in historical research. It is a sub-discipline of anthropology which is concerned with the study of human evolution and his environment and the material culture associated with him in pre-historic, proto-historic and historic periods through practical undertakings, methods and theories. Kashmir is an ancient geological land with glorious past where the man lived since the pre-historic times and has always been contacts with her neighbors and witnessed influx and efflux of races and cultures. So the role of archaeology with literature is of vital significance in the research of history of Kashmir. But, the application of archaeology in the research of history of Kashmir in general and in ancient and medieval history in particular seems very negligible. The attitude and interest of research about the ancient history of Kashmir and fresh explorations of archaeological sites among the regional institutions,students and scholars is meager. The national and international surveys and studies about archaeological research have also come to halt. The deteriorating condition of archaeological sites in the valley gives us the glimpse of our vanishing history. Archaeology is not confined to historical archaeology, it includes ethno-archaeology, Environmental Archaeology, Rural and Urban Archaeology, Marine Archaeology, and the list goes on. In this paper I will try to investigate the different perspectives and concerns of archaeological research in the history of Kashmir, its application on vast and wide areas of research, keeping in view the post-processual and postmodern viewpoint. Besides methodological problems, descriptions and fundamental goals, this paper seeks to evaluate the reasons why and based on these evaluations some suggestions for future research in Kashmir history are proposed. As the history of Kashmir is the significant and an inseparable part of Kashmir Studies