Department of Archaeology

As a discipline of social sciences, Archaeology has been developed as a scientific subject during last two centuries which deals with the human past. Fundamentally it deals with field work which involves explorations, surveys and excavations. More precisely Archaeology reconstructs the human past by studying, analysing and examining material culture. The aim of Archaeology is the understanding of humankind as it is a humanistic discipline, a humane study. Archaeological history of Pakistan fundamentally focuses on the beginning of archaeological activities since the establishment of Archaeological Survey of India (1861) up to 2015. During last one hundred and fifty years Archaeology has yielded wealth of knowledge regarding the history and culture of ancient Pakistan. On the basis of this data archaeologists have arranged the chronological sequence from pre historic times to Muslim occupation of Indian sub-continent.
The teaching of Archaeology at University of the Punjab was originally introduced as an auxiliary subject to M.A. History programme in the late 1950’s. But unfortunately, it did not survive for long. In academic session 1987-88, the subject of Archaeology as an optional group, consisting of five papers was offered in final year of M.A. History, regular Programme in the Department of History, University of the Punjab. In November 2001, a full fledge (two year M.A. Regular Programme) was introduced in History Department entitled "Department of History and Archaeology". Archaeology was separated from Department of History in October 2004 and it is now entitled as Department of Archaeology, University of the Punjab.