An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v2.c30.2

v2.c30.2

**Campā**, Dt Bhagalpur, 5 km w. of Bhagalpur, present-day Champanagar to the n. of Nathnagar railway station. The extensive mound is largely overbuilt by modern buildings. Campā was the capital of Aṅga, one of the *mahā-janapadas* annexed by Bimbisāra of Magadha in the 6th century B.C. Excavation started in 1969-70 and continued thereafter by the author (*IAR 1969-70*, p. 2; *1970-1*, p. 4; *1971-2*, p. 4) has revealed a defensive fortification surrounded by a deep moat and the bed of the Ganga. The trenches across the fortification and in areas within it near the confluence of the Champa-nala and the old bed of the Ganga have revealed that the city was occupied from 500 B.C. as no occupational layer prior to the NBPW [11.16] has been traced, though due to the subsoil water table the lowest levels of the NBPW could not be reached. (Elsewhere, 4.18.3, the author has calibrated ¹⁴C dates, which would take the beginning of the NBPW to an earlier date.)