A Report on Excavations at Chandankheda (2009‐10), Chandrapur District, Maharashtra Pradip Meshram 1 ,Virag Sontakke 2 , Ashok Singh Thakur 3 and Anand Bhoyar 2 1 . Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, R.T.M. University, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India (Email: deeru2009@rediffmail.com) 2 . Department of Archaeology, Government of Maharashtra, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India (Email: viragsontakke@gmail.com) 3 . INTACH, Chandrapur Chapter, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India Received: 16 August 2015; Accepted: 20 September 2015; Revised: 23 October 2015 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 3 (2015): 562‐580 Abstract: Explorations and excavations are a valid mean to attest or bring forth the historicity of archaeological remains at any site. When the initial explorations and related discoveries shed light on the archaeological potential of ancient site Chandankheda, Chandrapur district, Maharashtra, the site was taken up for excavations by Department of AIHC & Archaeology, Nagpur University, State Department Archaeology and Museums, Nagpur, and INTACH, Chandrapur Chapter during 2009‐10. Present paper is a summation of results of excavations at Chandankheda. It explores the antiquity of habitation at the site and its gradual development across various periods. Keywords: Chandankheda, Maharashtra, Early Iron Age, Pre‐Satavahana, Satavahana, Vakataka, Medieval Introduction Chandrapur is one of the important districts in Vidarbha. The district is situated in south east part of Maharashtra surrounded by Nagpur on the north, the newly formed state of Telangana on the south, Yavatmal on the west and the densely forested district of Gadchiroli on the east. Wardha and Wainganga surround the district from east and west respectively. Chandrapur district is well known for its mineral wealth‐ coal, iron and limestone and its rich forest cover. The district prides in its immense forest cover. The ancient site of Chandankheda (20˚16ʹ0ʺN, 79˚12ʹ0ʺE) is located on the banks of Erai River,main tributary of Wardha River (Fig 1). The site is situated 22 km northeast of Bhadrawati Taluka in Chandrapur District and around 130km southeast of Nagpur in Maharashtra (Fig 2). The site was discovered by Shri Ashok Singh Thakur in 2006 however it caught further attention when a terracotta sealing was reported from the site. Due to its potential, it was jointly taken up for excavation by the Department of AIHC and Archaeology, Nagpur University, State Department of Archaeology and Museums, Nagpur, and INTACH, Chandrapur Chapter during 2009‐10.