Tamil Heritage Trust
In the 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 to medieval times.
The online Talk in English is at 5.30 pm IST on February 7, 2026.
Register
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 the streets of
Salcette, the study looked for archaeological remnants of pre-colonial
Mumbai in sites where they are more likely to be found - in public
spaces, in residential zones and everything in between. Since 2015, the
team has unearthed microlithic stone tools, previously undocumented
caves, religious artifacts from the Shilahara period, relics of temples
and much more.
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.
Tamil Heritage Trust
tamilheritage.in
tamilheritage.in@gmail.com
youtube.com/@TamilHeritageTrust
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