Excavation work of a thousand-year old Buddhist Temple at Nateshwar village under Tongibari upazila of the district has begun.
A team of Bangladeshi and Chinese archaeologists jointly started the work on November 12. An inauguration ceremony is expected to be held in this regard on December 17.
Minister for Road Transport and Bridges Obaidul Quader will join the ceremony as chief guest.
The Director of Archaeological Excavation and Research Project in Munshiganj’s Bikrampur, Nuh-ul-Alam Lenin, announced the discovery at a press conference at the site on February 16, 2015. Later, excavation work was going on full swing.
Working over two months, archaeologists discovered many different structures at the site including octagonal piles, chambers and pedestals. The excavation work was also postponed due to heavy rain afterwards.
Earlier, another temple Raghurampur Budhdist Temple was discovered in the district.
The aim of the excavation work is to explore the thousand-year old city and become aquatinted with the-then social structure and other aspects.
Sponsor organisation ‘Agrasar Bikrampur Foundation’ has taken up this enthusiastic project by engaging 200 workforces.
The main focus of the undergoing excavation work is to find out the entire structural position of a Buddhist city as envisioned by the archaeological experts.
The vast areas are marked by specific remnants of Buddhist civilisation during the reign of Chandra and Barmo, according to experts.
Archaeologists have detected a number of ruins of the old Buddha city consisting of about eight corners. Rooms, roads and even drainage system made of burnt bricks around thousand years ago have also been found.
The fascinating part of the undergoing excavation at Nateshwar village is the use of better technology. Drone planes are being used to take photos of the entire work.
The excavation work is being carried out under a team of professional supervisors led by seven Chinese archaeologists accompanied by Head of the Department of Archaeology at the Jahangirnagar University Professor Sufi Mustafizur Rahman.
Mustafizur Rahman said: “We started the excavation work in 2010. Later, in 2014 Chinese archeologists joined us. Till February, 2015, many archeological finds such as piles, chambers, pedestals were discovered.”
When contacted, team leader of Chinese archeologists and Associate Professor of Hunan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology Li Yi Uan said:“We will say about the site officially on December 17.”
