UPSC Prelims 2023 · Question 61 of 97
UPSC Prelims 2023 question on Archaeologists South India
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2023
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectModern History
- TopicPersonalities in Modern History
- DifficultyHard
- TypeDirect
With reference to the Indian History, Alexander Rea, A. H. Longhurst, Robert Sewell, James Burgess and Walter Elliot were associated with
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Answer: A. Archaeological excavations
Alexander Rea was a British archaeologist who worked mainly in South British India. He is known for unearthing a sarcophagus from the hillocks of Pallavaram in Tamil Nadu.
Albert Henry Longhurst was a British archaeologist and art historian, working in India and Ceylon. He was the brother-in-law of Sir John Marshall, the Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India (1902-1928). In October 1913 he was appointed the Superintendent of the Southern Circle, Archaeological Survey of India. From 1927 to 1931 he was in charge of the systematic digging of Nagarjunakonda.
Robert Sewell worked in the civil service of the Madras Presidency during colonial rule. His speciality was the Vijayanagara Empire. Sewell undertook archaeological work at the Buddhist stupa at Amaravati.
Walter Elliot, the commissioner of Guntur (Andhra Pradesh), visited Amaravati in 1854 and collected several sculpture panels. He also discovered the remains of the western gateway and concluded that the structure at Amaravati was one of the largest and most magnificent Buddhist stupas ever built.
All five were associated with archaeological excavations → Option (a).