Archaeological Site Museums
The idea of archaeological site museums was initiated by the then Director-General Sir John Marshall who conceptualized the establishment of archaeological site museums under the Archaeological Survey of India in 1905 to display excavated antiquities in the close vicinity of their provenance to empower visitors with comprehensive vision of the site, its context and treasures so that the site as well as the artefacts can be evaluated holistically.
The concept of site museums is well elucidated by Hargreaves, one of the former Director Generals of ASI – ‘it has been the policy of the Government of India to keep the small and movable antiquities, recovered from the ancient sites, in close association with the remains to which they belong, so that they may be studied amid their natural surroundings and not lose focus by being transported’. A separate Museums Branch in ASI was created in 1946 by Sir Mortimer Wheeler. After the independence, there was a spurt in the growth of site museums in ASI.
After present, there are forty-six (46) Archaeological museums under Archaeological Survey of India spreading over the length and breadth of India i.e. Kangra (Himachal Pradesh) in the north to Mattancherry Palace (Kerala) in the south and Sri Surya Pahar (Goalpara, Assam) in the east to Dholavira (Kachchh, Gujarat) in the west.
There are two archaeological site museums under the jurisdiction of Archaeological Survey of India, Chandigarh Circle. These are: