Introduction to Archaeology Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Lothal was excavated by S.R. Rao (iv), Kalibangan by B.B. Lal (iii) and B.K. Thapar, Arikamedu by R.E.M. Wheeler (ii), and Chirand by B.P. Sinha (i). So the code is iv, iii, ii, i.

The other codes give the sites to other excavators, for example Lothal to Wheeler, and Arikamedu to Lal. These are the wrong pairings.

Lothal was excavated by S.R. Rao in the 1950s and 1960s, Kalibangan in the 1960s and Chirand in the 1960s, and Arikamedu by Wheeler in 1945.

Answer: C

The Archaeology of India is by D.P. Agrawal (ii), The Roots of Ancient India by W.A. Fairservis (i), The City in Early Historical India by A. Ghosh (iv), and Archaeology of Soviet Central Asia and the Indian Borderlands by S.P. Gupta (iii). So the code is ii, i, iv, iii.

The other codes match the books to the wrong authors, for example the first which gives The Archaeology of India to Fairservis.

Answer: B

Prehistoric India is by Stuart Piggott (ii), Ancient Cities of the Indus was edited by G.L. Possehl (i), Prehistory of India is by H.D. Sankalia (iv), and The Personality of India is by B. Subbarao (iii). So the code is ii, i, iv, iii.

The other codes give the books to the wrong authors, such as the first which gives Prehistoric India to Possehl.

Piggott’s book appeared in 1950, Sankalia’s in 1977 and Subbarao’s in 1958.

Answer: A

Alexander Cunningham was the first Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, appointed in 1861. He was an engineer officer who surveyed the Buddhist sites of northern India and published the Archaeological Survey reports.

James Prinsep deciphered Brahmi and died in 1840, before the Survey existed. John Marshall served as Director General from 1902, and Mortimer Wheeler served as Director General from 1944, so both came later.

Answer: A

Lord Curzon was a great boon to Indian archaeology. As Viceroy he passed the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act of 1904, revived the Archaeological Survey and appointed John Marshall as Director General in 1902.

Cornwallis, Ripon and Lytton did not make comparable contributions to the protection of monuments, so Curzon is the answer.

Answer: B

The correct matches are (a) Pattadakal, (b) Ajanta, (c) Brahmagiri and (d) Lothal, giving the code (iv) (iii) (ii) (i). Pattadakal is called a laboratory of Indian architecture, because it has both the northern and the southern style of temples side by side. Vakataka paintings are found in the caves of Ajanta. Brahmagiri in Karnataka is known for a Megalithic excavation by Wheeler, and Lothal is a Harappan port town with a dockyard.

The other codes mismatch the sites with the descriptions.

A quick check is Lothal for the port town, which is (d) with (i); only the code beginning (iv) and ending (i) keeps that pairing together with Ajanta for the Vakataka paintings.

Answer: A

Bamiyan is in Afghanistan, Pattadakal is in Karnataka, Arikamedu is in Pondicherry and Pandu Rajar Dhibi is in West Bengal, giving the code (ii) (i) (iv) (iii). Bamiyan is known for the colossal Buddha statues, Pattadakal for Chalukyan temples, Arikamedu for the Indo-Roman trading post, and Pandu Rajar Dhibi on the Ajay river for a Chalcolithic settlement.

The other codes assign the sites to the wrong places.

Elimination works from Bamiyan in Afghanistan, which is (a) with (ii); only the first code and none of the other three has that pair, and the rest of the code then follows.

Answer: C

The correct matches are (a) Allchin and Chakrabarty, (b) Wheeler, (c) Lal and Gupta and (d) Sankalia, which is the code (i) (ii) (iv) (iii). A Source Book of Indian Archaeology is by F.R. Allchin and D.K. Chakrabarti. The Indus Civilization is by R.E.M. Wheeler. Frontiers of the Indus Civilization was edited by B.B. Lal and S.P. Gupta, and Pre-history and Proto-history of India and Pakistan is by H.D. Sankalia.

The other codes pair the books with the wrong authors.

Elimination helps here: Wheeler wrote The Indus Civilization, so (b) is (ii), and Sankalia wrote the prehistory handbook, so (d) is (iii). Only the third code has both pairs.

Answer: A

Palaeontology deals with ancient life and so, in this list, with ancient bones, the fossil remains of animals. It studies fossils to reconstruct extinct forms of life and the environments in which they lived.

Ancient plants are the subject of palaeobotany, a branch of the wider field. Ancient coins are studied in numismatics and ancient pottery in ceramic study, so those are different fields. Bones fit best here.

Answer: D

The books in the order of publication are The Birth of Indian Civilization (ii), Stone Age Cultures of Central India (iii), The Archaeology of India (i) and Recent Archaeological Discoveries in India (iv). The Allchins' book is of 1968, Joshi's of 1978, D.P. Agrawal's of 1982 and Thapar's of 1985.

The other codes place these books in a different order, which does not match their years.

The years of publication are the best guide: 1968, 1978, 1982 and 1985 respectively. Taking the books in that order gives the code (ii) (iii) (i) (iv), while the other codes put a later work before an earlier one.