Hidden in plain sight: the unrecognized contribution of the survey of India in the documentation of ancient settlements in Pakistan and India

The earliest documentation of hundreds of ancient settlements in South Asia, including some of the most famous and significant sites, lies in largely unacknowledged subaltern hands. Operating during the British colonial period, teams employed by the Survey of India systematically mapped the colonial dominions and produced high-quality maps that depicted topography and land use across vast areas. Systematic analysis of these map sheets combined with ground-truthing is demonstrating that these teams documented thousands of mound features, and a significant number of these are (or sadly in many cases were) archaeological sites. Members of the original survey teams were for the most part not in a position to contribute their thoughts to the historical narrative, but the legacy of what they documented has long been hidden in plain sight. The collaborative Mapping Archaeological Heritage in South Asia (MAHSA) project is systematically documenting this archaeological heritage. Its work is demonstrating that the teams carrying out the Survey of India topographic surveys incidentally conducted the first systematic survey of archaeological sites in South Asia. This was potentially the world’s most extensive (albeit incidental) archaeological survey.