Hi,

My name is Tarini J. Carr. Welcome to my website Archaeology Online.

These days I am on an independent research and discovery trip with some friends in India. My archaeological interests are mainly in the field of ancient civilizations and particularly ancient Indian civilizations.

My interest in archaeology started as a result of my exposure to Asian culture at a young age. Since my childhood my parents were frequently traveling around the world with my three brothers and myself in tow. We spent most of our time in India, traveling around the country, seeing the wonder that was and is India - from the snow capped Himalayas in the north to the ancient temples and palaces of the south, and the screaming, apple-stealing monkeys, and chai wallas (tea vendors) in between.

Many of my memories of my childhood were of swimming in the rivers here in India and finding three-hundred year old Naga (snake) stone carvings that had been thrown into the river by some pilgrims, or memories of watching the village women scrubbing and beating their laundry on the rocks in the same way they have been doing for thousands of years.

The many wonderful places I visited over the years, sort of oblivious to their antiquity, but thoroughly enjoying running around the ornate stone pillars, hiding from my brothers, or making faces at the local kids, stuck in my mind forever.

Every year that I have returned to India there is something new to discover, there is always something more to see, to wonder at, to shake my head at and to learn.

To me India is culturally the richest and most vivid place in the world. The very air breathes of a tradition carried out of an ancient past — it is unlike any other place on earth.

I am currently majoring in anthropology at Adirondack Community College in NY and my goal is to eventually become an archaeologist working here in India. In creating this website, I hope to represent many of the aspects of India's historical, cultural, and political history that are perhaps less known, or even unknown to the world community.

India is indeed a place of great antiquity and great mystery - the culture is deeply mysterious, but by no means impenetrable. Everyone knows about the Aztecs, the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans and their contributions to the development of world civilization, but what about India? India has yet to be recognized as an ancient culture that has contributed significantly to the development of civilization. This I believe is a tremendous oversight and that one day in the future India will be recognized for her contributions — possibly even to the extent that she will be heralded as "The Mother of Civilization."

In the meantime I am just trying to do my small part, by making available information on this fascinating country that in my opinion deserves more attention from the world. I hope you enjoy my website and I look forward to hearing from you or to chatting with you on our archaeology blog.