Wari Bateshwar ruins: The Roots of Bangladesh

The roots of Bangladesh's history are situated in the old river of Brahmaputra, in Narsingdi's Wari Bateshwar. 

According to the archaeological evidence found in the Wari-Bateshwar Narsingdi region in 2006, settlements in Bangladesh developed almost 4 thousand years ago. Historical conceptions and recent archaeological discoveries discovered in Wari-Bateshwar had revealed that human settlement began in the region when the beginning of the Neolithic era began. 

Wari Bateshwar: The Roots Of Bangladesh

The initial study of the land-based archaeology of Uari Botessor which purely tried old methods sought to create past settlement and cultural history.

a hoard of silver punch-marked coins

The tool found in Wari-Bateshwar was given the opinion of the old and the new Stone Age era. But recently, the excavations of Wari-Bateshwar have evidently been discovered in the copper-stone era, due to the finding of houses and black warehouses by digging in the ground, it has been proved that there was a human habitation in the copper-stone era.

A large number of fossils, wood-built prehistoric base-lets, and hand-axes were found in this region; by looking at the type and shape of the tools, it can be assumed that the first human settlement was developed here during the Neolithic era.

The archaeological site is so far the most ancient site of Bangladesh. Wari-Bateshwar, located in Belabo Upazila of Narsingdi district, 70 kilometers northeast of Dhaka, is about 2,500 years old. 

In the context of the radiocarbon-14 test of some artifacts discovered in 2000, the town of Wari was confirmed as 450 BC. Wari and Bateswar villages have long been known as the founders of two shaded silver coins.

silver punch marked coin

The fortress of two and a half thousand years, located in the Pleistocene era, on the eastern border of Madhupur, has been discovered by intensive research and limited archaeological excavation. It is also seen in settlement of Mahasthan and Allahabad region of Uttar Pradesh, an ideal scheme and intellectual identity such as people living in high places.

The Fort is said to be the city in the Kautilya Arthashastra. Gordon Child explains the information of the ten controllers in rural areas in the towns and supports the same view. It was a fort, city or a city center developed in this process. An analysis of the discovered artifacts, however, shows that Wari Bateshwar was once a city and a flourishing business center. 

A team of archaeology department of Jahangirnagar University with Professor Sufi Mostafizur Rahman

A team of archaeology department of Jahangirnagar University with the help of local schoolteacher Habibullah Pathan, have discovered significant artifacts such as prehistoric tools, northern black polished ware (NBPW), architecture, semi-precious stone beads, ornaments, coins, iron tools, etc. 

The site is a unique significance in the history of Bangladesh. It is located in the old Brahmaputra river basin, was a river port and international commercial center.

soil test

It is believed that wari bateshwar is Ptolemy depicting ancient Sounagara. Many cities of the early-historic Indian subcontinent and the contact with Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean region were related to Wari-Bateshwar.

It was also connected with the 4,000-kilometer long silk route in 2300 years ago, has recently started to brighten up with a variety of evidence. According to historians, the settlement began in the region from the ancient times of civilization in Bangladesh. 

In the pre-Buddhist era, there were many Parganas, canals, and jungle in Maheshwari Pargana and adjoining areas. 

The people were very less in number. Occasionally there were houses of the non-Muslim people like Kirat, Tippai, Doi, Kabru, Garo, etc., evidence of the existence of human habitation in some parts of Bangladesh has been found from prehistoric times, and survival as a distinct and distinguished culture was a period.

According to the scholars-archaeologist-anthropologist researcher, the location of this region since the hemisphere. 

pit dwelling

It is estimated that the ancient period of Bengal was in the territory of the Ganges, in the south and north 24 Parganas of present-day West Bengal, Hooghly, Howrah and Medinipur districts and boundaries of some parts of Burdwan district and present in the Padma (present-day Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna) That is, the coastal areas of Bangladesh were in the region of the Ganges people.

 It is said that the capital of the Gangaridhdhi was the Ganges. Gange was the commercial center. All researchers agree that the Wari Bateshwar was the ancient port and business center. In that case, it can be assumed that the site was the capital of Gange was the commercial center. 

It has been discovered from 50 archaeological sites in the Uari Botessor region, the stone and stone fossils of the prehistoric era- wood tools, the holes of the copper-colored culture- the settlement and the important new references to the history of Bangladesh are significant. 

Wari-Bateshwar was the oldest city in Bangladesh. The Fort was the capital of these large populations. It was developed well-planned. In the meantime, the unique architectural features of the brick built along the castle-walled walls, trenches, paved roads, side roads, have been discovered from here.

Recent archaeological excavation on the site, Fort, pit dwelling, settlements, ovens, and wells was found along with Krishna and pottery ware. Besides, the holes found in human habitation have been found in the particular type of stone. These are all evidence of rural settlement in the past copper-stone era in this region. 

Wari Bateswar region had knowledge of the measurement of the people. They had ideas about geometry and trigonometry. After several recent archaeological excavations in this area Jasper, granite, crystal, other stone and terracotta bat-Khara have been discovered. Uari botessor was a trade center. It was grown in the factories, and perhaps they were exported to various places in Southeast Asia.

It was a city. Numerous punch-marked silver coins found in Wari Bateshwar. In the ancient era, for the practical need of business- trade, there was a need for a particular standard in the Wari-Bateshwar region; it is thought that some of these may have been used for measuring beetles.

semi-precious stone beads

Approximately two and a half thousand years ago, the use of buttermilk of measurable stones such as Jasper, granite, crystal, etc. carried the identity of an advanced civilization in the Wari-Bateshwar region. 

According to historians, the oldest coin-based economy of the subcontinent was developed in Narsingdi region. The archaeological remains of this area, which is a prosperous city and international trade center, was discovered in Wari Bateshwar, a pseudo-silver bank, Batakhara, which is a burning proof.

From terracotta figurines, it can be assumed that there were the circulation and use of iron smelting technology at high temperatures. The religious nature of the Uari botessor archaeological site is not known. But the pottery obtained at the location is indicative of Buddhist culture in this region.

stone tool

Professor Dilip Kumar Chakrabarty of the South Asian Archeology Department at Cambridge University thinks that the contact with Wari-Bateshwar was in touch with Southeast Asia and the Roman Empire. Because of all the materials available in rouletted ware, sandwich glass beads, gold-covered glass beads; Tin mixed bronze, etc. prove this information.

Since the formation of a well-organized state system, the region is making a significant contribution to the state economy as a primary economic unit, and this trend is still going on. 

Narsingdi has a golden history of two and a half thousand years old textile industry, which is still a legend in the history of the entire civilization of the whole world. Suvarna village's cotton cloth spreads its reputation all over the world, because of better excellence than the delicate fabrics made of Mathura, Banarasi, and Ujjain in India.

terracotta

Based on the archaeological sites discovered in Narsingdi district, it is possible that a thousand years ago, in the eastern part of Bangladesh, the primitive people started a permanent social life and formed the basis of the social system in the northern highlands of Narsingdi district. 

In recent years so many archaeological remains found on the bank of Arial Kha and Paharia river of Narsingdi district. Based on these patterns, the population of this region is estimated to be around ten thousand to ten lac years ago.

Habibullah Pathan Sir

In the 1930s, Muhammad Hanif Pathan, the school teacher, first highlighted the archaeological importance of the site. Later, his son Muhammad Habibullah Pathan started collecting and researching the site. 

After a long time since 1996, an archaeological survey was done in the Wari Bateshwar region and since 2000; regular archaeological excavation began. When analyzing all the artifacts found in Wari Bateshwar, there is clear evidence of the settlement stone age, the Neolithic era, the early historic era and historical settlement in the region.