An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v2.c45.138

v2.c45.138

Attention to the ruins was first drawn in 1818, and for a long time since then they suffered depredation at the hands of amateur archaeologists and treasure-hunters. In 1851 A. Cunningham and F.C. Maisey excavated Stūpas 2 and 3 and recovered relics therefrom, but a shaft in the centre of Stūpa 1 failed to reveal any (perhaps they had disappeared in one of the previous operations). Preservation of the *stūpas* was done in 1881 and the following years by H.H. Cole. But to expose the other structures, preserve them meticulously and build up a proper history of the monuments was left to John Marshall of the ASI between 1912 and 1919.