NM Certificate Courses
NATIONAL MUSEUM CERTIFICATE COURSE
THEME
The Forgotten Millennia: Understanding Prehistoric and Chalcolithic India
OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE
Despite being the foundation of India’s cultural history, the Prehistoric and Chalcolithic periods remain among the least understood and most underrepresented aspects of India’s past, even among museum professionals, educators, and the general public. Popular awareness tends to begin with the Harappan Civilization or later historical periods, often overlooking the long and significant record of human presence, technological development, and cultural evolution that preceded them.
Moreover, people are largely unaware that the National Museum itself holds a rich and significant Prehistoric collection. This valuable body of material remains underappreciated and underutilized in public understanding and engagement. Through this program, the National Museum aims to promote and bring wider visibility to the Prehistoric collection of the Indian subcontinent, encouraging greater appreciation of its scientific, cultural, and historical value.
Among the many strands of evidence available to archaeologists, ceramic traditions and mortuary practices stand out as particularly important aspects for understanding the emergence of human society and the development of cultures in the Indian context. Pottery reflects technological innovation, subsistence strategies, trade networks, and regional cultural identity, while the disposal of the dead offers deep insight into the evolution of belief systems, social organization, and community structure. Together, these two aspects provide some of the most direct and tangible evidence of how human societies transformed over time.
This five-day certificate course aims to bridge this gap by:
• Introducing participants to the chronological framework of Indian Prehistory, from the Paleolithic through the Chalcolithic period, leading up to the Harappan Civilization
• Building a clear understanding of the distinct cultural stages, tool traditions, settlement patterns, and artistic expressions that mark each phase
• Familiarizing participants with the origin, growth, and features of the Harappan Civilization and the diverse Chalcolithic cultures that coexisted with and followed it.
• Developing competence in reading pottery and ceramic traditions as key chronological and cultural markers, from prehistoric handmade wares to BRW, PGW, and NBPW
• Exploring mortuary practices across these periods as critical evidence of evolving social organization, ancestor veneration, and belief systems.
• Highlighting ceramics and disposal of the dead as two of the most important lenses through which the emergence and growth of human society in India can be understood.
• Promoting and creating wider awareness of the National Museum’s own Prehistoric collection as a valuable resource for research, education, and public engagement.
• Equipping museum professionals, researchers, and enthusiasts to correctly place, interpret, and present prehistoric and protohistoric collections within an accurate cultural chronology
COURSE OUTLINE AND STRUCTURE
Day 1.
• Understanding Prehistory
• What is Prehistory
• Different Cultures of Prehistory
• Prehistoric Environment
• Timeline and distribution of prehistoric sites in India
• Tool Types
Day 2.
• Settlement Pattern
• Art in Prehistoric Time
• Stories of Human evolution and important biological findings in India
• Other aspects
• Relevance of Prehistoric Culture in museums, limitation and scope
Day 3:
• Harappan Civilization and Chalcolithic Culture
• Origin, different phases of Harappan Civilization
• Distributions of sites and features of Harappan Civilization
• What is Chalcolithic Culture
• Different Chalcolithic Cultures in India
• Time line, sties and features of Chalcolithic cultures
Resource Person for Day 1-3: Ms Moumita Dhar
Day 4:
• Pottery and Ceramic tradition of India from Prehistoric to early Iron Age
• Importance of potteries and ceramics in archaeological studies
• Potteries of Prehistoric time
• Ceramic tradition of Harappan Civilization
• Ceramics of Chalcolithic Time period
• Timeline and features of BRW, PGW and NBPW
Resource Person for Day 4: Dr Vasant Swarnkar
Day 5
• Disposal of Dead from Prehistoric to Chalcolithic time period
• Evolutionary Origins of Mortuary Behavior: Since the beginning to Harappan times
• Sedentism and Ancestor Veneration: Intramural vs. Extramural Burials
• Social Stratification in Death: Comparative Analysis amongst societies
• The Harappan Way of Death: Typology, Grave Goods, and Spatial Organization
• Beyond the Grave: Bio-archaeological Perspectives on Prehistoric and Protohistoric Populations
Resource Person for Day 5: Dr Satarupa Bal
COURSE OUTCOME: On successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:-
• Understand and articulate the correct chronological sequence of Indian cultures, from Prehistory through the Chalcolithic to the beginning of the Iron Age
• Overcome common misconceptions and gaps in awareness regarding India’s early cultural history
• Identify and classify prehistoric tools, pottery, and artifacts, and place them accurately within their cultural and temporal context
• Distinguish between the features of Harappan and various regional Chalcolithic cultures based on site distribution and material culture
• Recognize ceramic traditions and mortuary practices as key indicators of technological, social, and cultural change, and use them to understand the emergence and evolution of human society in India
• Interpret grave typology, burial goods, and spatial organization of burials to draw meaningful conclusions about social stratification and belief systems
• Appreciate the significance of the National Museum’s Prehistoric collection and become advocates for its wider promotion and public engagement
• Apply this chronological and cultural understanding to the curation, display, and public interpretation of prehistoric and protohistoric collections in museums
• Communicate the significance and relevance of India’s earliest cultural heritage to wider audiences, thereby contributing to greater public awareness
COURSE CONDUCTED BY
Dr. Vasant Kumar Swarnkar, currently serving as Director (Archaeology) in the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), boasts an illustrious career spanning 25 years in field archaeology and administration. His robust academic foundation includes a Master's degree in Ancient Indian History, Culture, and Archaeology from Vikram University, Ujjain, a Post Graduate Diploma from the Institute of Archaeology, ASI, and a Doctorate from Nagpur University. Driven by a commitment to heritage preservation, he also secured a Post Graduate diploma in Disaster Management and Risk Reduction from IP University, Delhi. Dr. Swarnkar’s profound expertise in stratigraphic chronology, ceramic studies, and the material culture of ancient civilizations is vividly reflected in his extensive excavation portfolio, which seamlessly spans diverse historical epochs. As an authority on ancient pottery and Early Historic ceramic studies, he is a highly sought-after speaker across various academic institutions. He has meticulously documented occupational sequences from the Harappan period at Rakhigarhi and Dholavira, to the Chalcolithic era as the director of excavations at Maharaj ki Khedi in Rajasthan. His chronological mastery extends deeply into the historical and medieval periods, evidenced by his directorial roles at Bilsadh—where a 5th-century CE temple with a Shankhalipi inscription was unearthed—Daulatabad Fort, Fatehpur Sikri, and the missing structures of Mehtab Bagh at the Red Fort. Notably, his recent direction of the Purana Qila excavations has been pivotal in stratigraphically identifying the ancient site of Indraprastha. Beyond field excavations, Dr. Swarnkar is a dedicated educator and a prolific scholar, having authored numerous research papers and the book "Amarkosh - Ek SānskritikAdhyayan," which explores the socio-economic, geographical, and cultural landscape of the 4th-5th centuries CE. A prominent figure on the global stage, he has represented the ASI at UNESCO and participated in international heritage management programs in Japan and Korea, continuously striving to decode and preserve India's rich archaeological timeline.
Dr Satarupa Bal is presently working as an Assistant Superintending Archaeologist at the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Headquarters in New Delhi, engaged in excavations, training, report writing, research work, etc. Her dedicated career with the ASI includes overseeing national archaeological site museums, implementing government cultural schemes, and supervising significant excavations at Purana Qila's ancient archaeological mound, also associated with the ancient site of Indraprastha. Dr. Bal's primary academic focus lies in the ancient Harappan Civilization, culminating in her Doctoral research work from the Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute. Her doctoral research intricately explored and documented the "Mortuary Practices of the Harappans with special reference to the North West Region of India". Through her rigorous academic and field pursuits, Dr. Bal has established significant authority in the field of bio archaeology, focussing on mortuary, skeletal, and socio-economic studies of societies of the Harappan civilization. Her scholarly contributions consistently emphasize the interpretation of ancient burial paradigms and physical remains, wherein she has accomplished detailed methodical study on burial patterns and symbolism concerning various Harappan sites in India, besides a structured framework to study bio archaeological aspects of Harappan skeletons through intricately comprehensive analysis. Her specialized theoretical knowledge is deeply grounded in active fieldwork. She has excavated at the prominent Harappan site of Rakhigarhi as a part of the team of Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, supervised excavations at Binjor as a part of the team from Excavation Branch II, ASI, and led targeted explorations at Kalibangan and Pilibangan to directly study these ancient landscapes. Today, Dr. Bal continues to present her comprehensive findings on Harappan mortuary practices and expansive bio archaeological studies at prestigious international colloquiums and institutions across India.
Moumita Dhar is Research Officer and Section Head of Prehistoric Archaeology at the National Museum, New Delhi, since 2016. She has participated in several archaeological excavations and holds an MPhil in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology (AIHC & Archaeology), along with a Postgraduate Diploma in Museology. Her research expertise focuses on human migrations, the formation of early societies, and cultural interactions in ancient times. She has also undertaken research on Palaeolithic tools in the National Museum collection and curated their presentation through an exhibition, highlighting the significance of India’s prehistoric heritage
• Duration of Course: 5 Days (Aug. 20,21,22,23 & 25)
• Timings: 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
• Minimum Eligibility Criteria: 19 years and above can apply for the course. Open to all,
• Total number of seats: 35 only
• Certificates: Certificate would be given against 100 percent attendance only.
• Course fee:
