Sisupalgarh

Sisupalgarh or Sisupalagada (Odia: [sisupaːl̪ɔɡɔɽɔ] ⓘ) is situated in Khurda District in Odisha, India, and houses ruined fortifications.

[1] First inhabited around 7th to 6th centuries BCE,[2] it is one of the largest and best-preserved early historic fortifications in India, and was once the capital of ancient Kalinga.

The remains of the ancient city Sisupalgarh has been discovered near Bhubaneswar, today, the capital of the Odisha state in India.

Archaeologists have employed geophysical survey, systematic surface collections and selected excavations in the 4.8 km perimeter of the fortified area and studied individual houses and civic as well as domestic architecture to arrive at the figure.

The major portion of the land that constitutes the ancient enclosed settlement somehow went from a protected monument into private possession.

[10][11][12] Since 2002, yearly satellite images document the illegal house building especially in the north-western quarter which increased in tempo since 2010.

The well-known historian Karuna Sagar Behera has voiced serious concern over the preservation of material unearthed from the site and notes, "It is a shame that some gold coins and terracotta pottery found at the place during the first excavation in the late 1940s were subsequently lost."

The archaeological site consists of two parts one is the northern gateway of the western wall and the other is the shola khamba (meaning 16 pillars).

Presently both archaeological sites are under threat of encroachment with new construction coming up barely a couple of yards from the historical structures.