Artwork by Rashi Jain

From conversation on:
Oct 15, 2022

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Have you ever wondered how human civilsations took shape? How much do we know from our shared past, and how far do we have a scientific basis for these stories? Exploring the depths of our past and unearthing the mysteries of ancient civilizations - this is what makes archeology such an endlessly fascinating subject. From discovering ancient artifacts and deciphering hieroglyphics, to reconstructing lost cities, and piecing together the lives of our ancestors, the discipline offers a peephole to understanding the planet and our society that has formed over a span of several millennia. For the Season 4 of Zeroing In : Of A City, as we embark on the journey of figuring our way through the making of the civilisation that we live in, we start with the first puzzle piece of delving into all that has come before, and finding how much we know of it in the scientific context. The archaeological perspectives borrow the contexts from history, art, and literature, while also form a solid ground for scientific innovation and discovery. In our conversation with Prof. Kalyan Chakraborty, Professor of Archaeology at the Ashoka University, we discovered some fascinating methodologies of building and putting together the stories from buried relics, deciphering mysteries while also understanding the intriguing ideologies and philosophies from around the world, centuries old and present, alike. Dive in to the full episode to hear on about the nurturing togetherness that we share as humankind, and the origins of it all, as we have traced, to find a sense of belongingness - with the planet, and within ourselves - in the infinite scheme to things.

Prof. Kalyan Sekhar Chakraborty is a researcher, excavator, and post-excavation analyst, who specialises in Biomolecular Archaeology and Archaeological Geochemistry. Prof. Chakraborty pursued his bachelors in Anthropology from the University of Calcutta, and then went on to pursue his masters degree in archaeology, specialising in ancient Indian history and culture from the Deccan college. Following this, he pursued his doctoral work at the University of Toronto, wherein he conducted really interesting research in the field and as an analyst as well. Following his post-doctoral stints across various institutes and field sites, he currently is an assistant Professor at the Ashoka University, and is associated as a Postdoctoral researcher with the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. We discussed with him on fundamental ideas about the understanding of human history from the anthropological and archaeological points of reference, the names of knowns while tracing the story of the development of human civilizations from scientific perspectives, and most importantly, naming the unknowns that still beg for an understanding of where we belong. Prof. Chakraborty’s patient art of storytelling combined with the extensive understanding of the nuances of the field made the conversation extremely lively, and beautifully lined with treasures of fundamental ideas, spilling into further ardent curiosities trails that we promised to follow through very soon.