National workshop brings archaeology, genetics, anthropology and advanced scientific methods together to reconstruct South Asia’s human past.

By Aditya Animesh

Rajgir, Nalanda, Bihar | Tuesday, 01 September 2026: Nalanda University’s Department of Archaeology, in collaboration with the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) and Banaras Hindu University (BHU), organised a one-day national workshop on the applications of bioarchaeology, highlighting the role of genetics, genomics and scientific methods in reconstructing ancient history.

The workshop was inaugurated by Vice Chancellor Professor Sachin Chaturvedi, who stressed the need for stronger interdisciplinary and laboratory-based approaches in archaeology. He highlighted the importance of DNA extraction and purification, isotopic analysis, chronological reconstruction and statistical methods, as well as genomic studies to understand human biological diversity, population histories, mobility and demographic processes. He also referred to ongoing collaboration with an Australian research team on human genomic data and announced the launch of an Integrated M.A. and Doctoral Programme in Archaeology at Nalanda University.

The workshop was graced by Shri Jaideep Mazumdar, Former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs.

Organizing Chair Professor Vasant Shinde (Nalanda University; CSIR Bhatnagar Fellow, CCMB, Hyderabad) joined Professor Chaturvedi in the key plenary session.

Professor B. V. Sharma, Director, Anthropological Survey of India, underlined the importance of biological anthropology and health studies in understanding historical community adaptation. Professor Gyaneshwer Chaubey, Department of Zoology, BHU, highlighted advanced genomic and ancient DNA research in reconstructing South Asian population history.

Technical insights were contributed by Dr. Abhishikta Ghosh Roy, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan; Dr. Prajjval Pratap Singh, M.K. Bhan Fellow, BRIC-CDFD, Hyderabad; and Physical Anthropologists Dr. Manjulika Gautam and Dr. Ningombam Somorjit Singh, AnSI.

Professor Godabarish Mishra, Dean I/C, School of Historical Studies, Nalanda University, and Convener Dr. Elora Tribedy, Department of Archaeology, Nalanda University, also contributed to the workshop.

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