The Salcette Exploration Project, an urban archaeological initiative jointly conducted by three institutions, focuses on uncovering history in the broader Salcette area, the larger island immediately north of the original seven islands of Bombay, extending from present-day Bandra, Kurla and Chembur to Thane in the north.
Based on surface exploration surveys where teams scour every street of Salcette, the study looked for archaeological remnants of pre-colonial Mumbai in sites where they are more likely to be found - in congregational public spaces and residential zones. Since 2015, the team has unearthed microlithic stone tools, previously undocumented caves, religious artifacts from the Shilahara period, relics of temples and much more.
In his talk, Rediscovering Mumbai: The Salcette Exploration Project, Dr Kurush Dalal shares his experiences in leading one of the largest urban archaeology projects. He takes us through the team’s findings that date back from over ten thousand years ago to medieval times.
About the Speaker:
Kurush F Dalal has a BA in Ancient Indian History and History from the University of Mumbai), an MA in Archaeology as well as a PhD on the early Iron Age in Rajasthan, both from Deccan College, Pune University. Subsequently he shifted focus to the Early Medieval Period predominantly on the West Coast of India and excavated the sites of Sanjan, Chandore and Mandad. These excavations and the data recovered have had a strong impact on scholarship in the region.
Dr Dalal also actively works on Memorial Stones and Ass-curse Stones in India and dabbles in Numismatics, Defense Archaeology, Architecture, Ethnoarchaeology and allied disciplines. He is the Co-Director of the Salcette Exploration Project, a massive Urban Archaeology Project documenting the Archaeology of Mumbai since 2015, thus extending his interest from the Medieval into the Colonial Period.
Dr Dalal taught archaeology and allied subjects at the University of Mumbai for 10 years. and is a visiting lecturer at various Universities, Colleges, Schools and Government Institutions.
He has published 7 edited volumes, 44 academic papers and has read many more at National and International Seminars. He was Consulting Editor with Live History India writing about Food and Archaeology where he published 90 online articles and helped make 10 videos, amongst other materials.
He was the Director, School of Archaeology, INSTUCEN Trust, Mumbai and is the founder, mentor, lecturer and research lead at Gyaan Factory, Mumbai
Dr Dalal inherited a catering business and has been researching about food all his life. He has been actively lecturing about Food and Archaeology and Culinary Anthropology. He runs The Studying Food Workshop (with Ms. Rhea Mitra-Dalal) which teaches food beyond the usual scope of recipe, ingredient and technique but looks at the interfaces between food and archaeology, anthropology, history, politics, media, ethics, writing, religion, mythology and philosophy.
