SOAS Research Online

Abstract

To make Cunningham's archaeological career more intelligible we start our first chapter with an introductory review of his life in the army and his general background. At the same time we have tried to recapture the intelalectual milieu of the early British Calcutta in which he worked and which shaped his interests and curiosities, and above all we have tried to present in some detail the influence exerted by Prinsep on him and Prinsep's own archaeological activities. This Chapter is rounded off with an enquiry into the circumstances of the establishment of the Archaeological Survey of India. Our second Chapter is devoted to the actual explorations carried out by Cunningham and his Assistants in the wide expanses of Northern India, leading to the discovery of most of the ancient Indian cities. Our third, Chapter deals with the story of Cunningham's ideas and methods of interpreting the actual remains --- coins, inscriptions, architecture and sculpture. The fourth and concluding Chapter deals in detail with Cunningham's methods of exploration, excavation and dating and his general attitude to archaeology, things and people and his place in archaeology, Indian and general.