Exploring the Past is a collection of selected articles of Prof. S.C. Malik on various problems and issues in Indian archaeology. These articles cover a wide range of topics from exploration of prehistoric sites, excavation of Stone Age sites, life and time of Stone Age man, Pleistocene chronology, Harappan society, Socio-cultural and socio-economic history, archaeological researches in India to psychological transformation of man. The author has also dealt with some of the vital issues pertaining to archaeological researches in India — archaeology as a source of writing history, integrative inter-disciplinary approach for archaeology, models for archaeology and their social relevance, future of archaeology in India — which make field archaeologists to think to have a relook at the popular traditional approach dealing with ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘when’, and for exploring the possibilities and other approaches attempting to know about ‘why’ and ‘how’ for better understanding of the past phenomena and better reconstruction of history. This book takes the reader on a journey from Stone Age tool bearing strata to various levels of human consciousness. This collection of articles would equally fascinate researchers and students of archaeology, culture, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, as well as the common reader interested in man and his past.

About the Author

Professor Alok Tripathi (b. 1965), Director, Centre for Archaeology and Museology, Assam University, Silchar, is a leading archaeologist in the country. He has executed several projects of immense importance and directed archaeological excavations off Bangaram Island (Lakshadweep), Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu), Dwarka (Gujarat), Elephanta (Maharashtra), and Ojiyana (Rajasthan). He established Underwater Archaeology Wing in the Archaeological Survey of India, and is a renowned authority in Asia-Pacific region on underwater archaeology. Holding equal authority in field-archaeology, museology, heritage management, art and architecture, laws, remote sensing, and art-history he has authored and edited 13 monographs and published over 80 research papers.