DADU, Jan 16: A ceremony was held on Sunday to pay tribute to renowned archaeologist Nani Gopal Majumdar at Rohel Ji Kund where he had been killed by a robber while he was doing excavation work in the Kachho area on Nov 11, 1938. A plaque was installed at the place.

Historian Ishtiaq Ansari said that Mr Majumdar carried out research and excavated several archaeological and historical sites in Sindh. After the excavation at Moenjodaro, he supervised work at different sites in Kachho, Kohistan, Sehwan and Johi, he said.

Nani Gopal Majumdar was born in 1897 in the Majumdar town of Bengal and was appointed a curator at a museum after he resigned from the University of Calcutta.

When he took charge of superintendent of the Archaeological Survey of India he was busy doing excavation work at Moenjodaro. He found a number of ancient sites in Kohistan, he said. Mr Ansari said that even today researchers were following the guideline set by Majumdar for archaeological sites in Sindh.

Research scholar Aziz Ranjhani said the hard-working archaeologist and scholar travelled 200 miles on foot and discovered many archaeological sites. He was among the greatest explorers of historical sites in the world.

He said that Majumdar's findings in Sindh were mentioned in his book tilted “Explorations in Sindh”. He travelled to remote areas on foot or by camel because there were no roads at that time.

Social worker Dr. Abdul Hameed Soomro called for proper research on the archaeological sites discovered by Majumdar, some of them dating back to Copper Age.

A book “Gorakh“ by Ishtiaq Ansari was launched at the ceremony.