A 4000-year-old Shivling was unearthed by the ancient history department of BHU involved in the archaeological excavations at Bhabhaniyav village, 18 km from Varanasi. The discovery was made after the research team had earlier found an ancient crafts village near Varanasi.
According to BHU professors, the Shivling which dated back to thousands of years could have been a site of worship but they cautioned that more research needs to be done to corroborate the claim.
Examining the ancient ‘craft village’ uncovered by the excavators, one of the BHU professors, as quoted by media reports, claimed that the ancient village might be 3500 years old. The professor made the assessment after scrutinising dating of pottery found at the site. It belongs to the copper stone period and bears Kushan period’s Brahmi script inscribed over it. All these objects have been obtained after surveying in Bhabhaniyav village.
The interest of archaeologists was piqued after several temples and secret sites were discovered in and around the city of Varanasi, which is one of the oldest cities in the world. In November 2018, ancient temples with architectural marvels which were hitherto unknown even to the government officials were recovered during demolition of buildings for the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor project.