Introduction

Physical space shapes and is shaped through cultural behaviour. Sacralisation of the landscape involved demarcation of a cultural topography either through construction of religious architecture or by including prominent features of the natural environment. In the early Middle Ages religion and land were considered essential for the proper functioning of society in Europe. Landscape is construed not simply as scenery, but as a cultural complex in which the natural world and human practice, conceptual and material, are dynamically linked and constantly interacting. An archaeological landscape provides interesting insights into the ways people in the past (and in the present) engaged with the built and natural environment and imbued it with meanings. The archaeological record from South Asia provides evidence for the colonisation of a variety of ecological niches from the prehistoric period onwards. In 1940, archaeological excavations undertaken at Rajghat near Kashi railway station had sought to identify the core of the city and traced its beginnings to 800 BCE.