Chanda of the Indian Museum in Kolkata documented the site in the Memoirs of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

From these investigations, it has been inferred that Lalitgiri, one of the earliest Buddhist sites in Orissa, maintained a continuous cultural sequence starting from the post Mauryan period (322–185 BC) till 13th century AD.

[7] In 1985, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) started excavation at Lalitgiri to locate Pushpagiri, an important Buddhist site mentioned in the writings of the 7th-century Chinese traveler Xuanzang.

The stone caskets, like Chinese Puzzle boxes, made of Khondalite stone, revealed three other boxes within them, made of steatite, silver and gold respectively; the gold casket, which is the last one, contained a relic or dhatu in the form of a small piece of bone.

Also found were a series of Kushana Brahmi inscriptions made on shells with cuts on moonstone at the periphery of the edifice.

A terracotta monastic seal with the inscription "Sri Chandraditya Vihara Samagra Arya Vikshu Sanghasa" is dated to the 9th–10th century AD.

[2] The antiquities unearthed include a plethora of images of Buddha in different meditative forms from the Mahayana Buddhism period.

The finds also include a gold pendant, silver jewellery, stone tablets with imprints of Ganesha and Mahisasurmardini, a seal matrix-cum-pendant, and a small image of Avalokiteśvara.

[10] Also found are potsherds with inscriptions dated from the post Mauryan period to 8th–9th century AD, which indicate that Buddhists belonging to the Hinayana and Mahayana sects lived here.

The statues of Buddha, portrayed in a standing position and attired with a drape adorned from shoulder level to the knee, is reflective of the Gandhara and Mathura schools of sculpture.