Kolkata is not quite the colonial city, say ASI

• During the recent excavations at a mound outside the Robert Clive House in Dum Dum, the Kolkata Circle of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) found evidence of settlements that can be almost 2,000 years old.
  • The excavations revealed not only antiquities, pottery and charcoal but also almost 12 different layers of habitations.

Heritage City Kolkata:

• The city is not merely a colonial city or the late medieval occupancy of local zamindars but had habitations from the first century CE (current era).
  • Clive House:
    • The Clive House stands on a mound on Rastraguru Avenue and is one of the oldest buildings in Kolkata and its adjoining surroundings.
    • The building is a fine specimen of the colonial architecture and Robert Clive, first British Governor of the Bengal Presidency, used this building as a country house.
  • Chandraketugarh:
    • Chandraketugarh in North 24 Parganas district where the excavations in the 1950s and the 1960s had revealed almost a continuous sequence of occupations, divided into six periods from the pre-Mauryan to the Pala period.
  • Recent Excavations:
    • The recent excavations have given evidence of floods. With layers of soil deposits we can be sure that there was some kind of continuous settlement.