Cultural Landscape Research

Cultural landscapes are explored using geospatial data to identify unrecorded and undocumented features of built heritage, and the results of such analysis are used for preserving built heritage in the face of rapid urbanization and development. The research areas include: exploring sea charts and coastal maps made in colonial period to study cultural heritage and geomorphology along the Indian coast; identifying archaeological mounds in large Buddhist sites in Ganga valley like Nalanda, Bodhgaya and Vikramasila using stereoscopic satellite images, photogrammetric techniques, and carbon dating (using AMS techniques) bricks collected from unprotected mounds; historical water systems in the extended landscape of Malaprabha River Valley; characterising and managing built heritage sites; orientation of sacred structures of a few Buddhist sites and their astronomical association; and analysing spatial transformations in the city of Agra in the last 300 years. In addition, using remote sensing, GIS and ground surveys, resulted in the first quantitative assessment of the Nalanda’s site’s extent, but also identified structures of archaeological significance that lie outside protected zones. This could form a model for tackling the thorny issues of identification of the area to be protected.