The Archaeological Survey of India’s preliminary progress report on the excavation at the disputed site in Ayodhya has somewhat watered down the Tojo-Vikas International Pvt Ltd’s Ground Penetrating Radar survey findings which had indicated the evidence of a structure beneath the site.The ASI, in its preliminary report submitted on Monday to the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court which ordered the excavation, has stated that ‘‘while checking the anomalies indicated in the GPR Survey Report, anomalies were confirmed/partly confirmed’’ only in seven trenches.But what may lead to another round of heated debate on the Ayodhya dispute is that the ASI’s progress report also states that it has found ‘‘no structural anomalies’’ — this is being interpreted as no evidence of a structure — in the other trenches excavated by its team in the presence of observers.Commenting on Tojo’s survey area where the ASI has been excavating between May 22 and June 5, the report mentions five trench numbers and says ‘‘anomalies could not be confirmed due to structural activities at the upper levels. However, no structural activities were noticed at the spots of reported anomalies in trenches B2, B3, B4, B5, B7, B8, B9, C3, C4, C6, C8, G7, K6, L4 and L7.’’The ASI has listed in the preliminary report objects it came across while digging, ranging from ‘brick-wall’, ‘floor’, ‘a triangular-shaped buttress’, ‘two squarish black pillar bases’, ‘successive layers of floor to brick pillar’ and ‘floor with burials’.Of the other items unearthed during the excavation, the ASI lists a wide range of artefacts of various antiquity — moulded brick fragments, terracotta wheels, some architectural fragments, glazed tile fragments, terracotta animal figurines and sling ball, decorated stucco fragments, moulded bricks, decorated black stone pillar (broken) with Yaksha figurines on four corners, glass bangle fragment, iron nails, Arabic inscriptions of holy verses on stone,copper coins, iron-pointed blade-razor, human head, bird lamp, perforated disc, seal with worn out character and an unidentified object.PTI adds from Lucknow: The Sunni Central Waqf Board, one of the main plaintiffs in the Ayodhya title suit, and Muslim parties have accused the ASI team of ‘‘fabricating’’ archaeological evidence there.In an application submitted to the two observers monitoring the excavation work, H S Dubey and M A Siddique, the Board and the Muslim parties disputed the ASI’s progress report submitted to the special bench of the Allahabad High Court hearing the matter, Board’s counsel Zafaryab Jilani said on Tuesday.While the ASI had in its progress report mentioned about the existence of structural bases which they said were very old, the Muslim parties claimed that these belonged to a much later period, Jilani said.The Muslim parties moved the application after its own team of archaeologists carefully went through the excavation work being carried out by the ASI, he said. The Board has also objected to what it alleged was selective collection of artefacts being found at the site, Jilani said.
