Mumbai: The University of Mumbai will start a two-year master’s course in archaeology under the Centre for Extra-Mural Studies from July. Admissions to the 60-seat course will commence on June 15.
The university will set up a department of archaeology to conduct the course. A proposal to start this course was cleared at a meeting of the academic and management councils on May 31.
“Observing the accomplishments and findings of the Centre of Extra-Mural Studies, we realised that the course is the need of the hour, because a formal programme will attract more students,” Vice-Chancellor Sanjay Deshmukh said. Until now, the closest option for archaeology aspirants in Mumbai was the Deccan College in Pune or the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.
Apart from teaching students just archaeological theories and methods, the course will introduce them to pre-history. It will be a combination of MA with research, as the syllabus focuses mostly on exploration. Classes will be held under the Centre for Extra-Mural Studies until it gets a separate entity next year. The course fee will be approved by the university’s governing bodies.
The students will get to be a part of the project the course co-ordinators are currently working on.
Professor Mugdha Karnik, the coordinator of the course, spoke about the latest findings of the Region of Salscette (Mumbai Suburban District and Thane city) Explorations Project Season 2, which was started in April to find the unknown history of Mumbai.
Archaeologists discovered a rock-cut grotto at Gundavli Teki, medieval sculptural members in Thane, a Dargah of Haji Sayyed Shah Kadri in Kumbharwada in Dharavi, prehistoric microlith tools from Manori, fragments of a Herostone re-purposed and used as an icon of Ghatoba in Deonar.
On Friday morning, the researchers discovered scattered remnants of Buddhist Stupas of the ancient Buddhist Monastry of Vihar in Central Mumbai.
“We are currently field mapping and digging up new bits of the past. We will search for the possibility of more exploration and excavations. Through this course, students will get to be a part of this project,” said Dr. Kurush Dalal, assistant professor at Mumbai University.
