AMBARI ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
LOCATION:AMBARI
DISTRICT: KAMRUP, ASSAM

The Ambari Archaeological Site (Lat. 26° 11’ 8’’ N; Long. 91° 45′ 21’’ E), situated in the heart of the Guwahati city in Kamrup District of Assam was accidentally discovered in course of digging the foundation for the building of the Reserve Bank of India in 1969. From 1970 to 2003 the site was excavated by different excavators. The occupation of Ambari has been made into two distinct cultural periods ranging from c. 7th to 12th c. AD and 13th to 17th c. AD respectively.

The excavation at Ambari Archaeological Site in 2008-09 jointly by the Guwahati Circle of ASI and the Directorate of Archaeology, Assam is important and significantly rewarding in view of the fact that no cultural findings of the Sunga-Kushana period (2nd-1st c. BC to 3rd c. AD) were ever excavated in Northeast India prior to this excavation.
The most important discovery of the excavation of Ambari Archaeological Site during the field season 2008-09 is flight of steps made of bricks leading to the tank.

Besides, the excavation has revealed two floors and two hearths resting on the natural soil significantly.

The ceramic industry of the site is dominated by Kaolin ware, Red ware, Buff ware and few Grey wares, which are available in medium and coarse fabrics and occasionally applied with slip. All the pot sherds found are of wheel-turned, although a small percentage of handmade potteries is also recovered.

It is worth mentioning here that three types of foreign ceramics namely Arretine and Roulleted ware (1st -2nd C.AD.), Chinese celadon ware (10th -12th C.AD.), and Green glazed ware (16th -17th C.AD.), were also found in the excavation.