Damankhanda
| Location | Lat. 250 25’ N ; Long. 810 54’ E |
| District | Nalanda |
| State | Bihar |
| Excavation Years | 2007-08 |
| Director of Excavations | P.K. Mishra |
| Assisted by | N.G.Nikoshey, S.Nayan, J.K.Tiwari, A.Arif & Neetesh Saxena. |
The village Damankhanda situated at 1km. north from the ruins of the ancient Nalanda Mahavihar. The objective of this excavation was to mark out the extension of ancient Nalanda Mahavihar. The remains of Buddhist temple, fragmentary architectural and sculptural remains revealed.
On the basis of ceramic industries, antiquities and other material culture recovered from the excavation the following tentative chronology is suggested.
| Period I | Northern Black Polished Ware culture (600 to 200B.C.). |
| Period II | Gupta and Post-Gupta period (300 to 800 A.D.) |
| Period III | Pala period (800 to 1200 A.D.). |
The ceramic industries consists degenerated Northern Black Polished Ware, Black-and-Red ware and Red ware and important shapes are deep bowl, basin, bowls vases, lamp, spouted pots, lid miniature pots, channelled basin and storage jars.
Antiquities recovered during the small scale excavation mostly are terracotta human figurine, animal figurine, wheel, ear-lobe, stopper, sling ball, dabber, beads and inscribed sealings. Small sculptures of Buddha in Bhumisparsa and Dharmachakra pravartan pose and Vishnu in Samabhanga pose made of stone were also found. Nail and nail parer are among the iron objects. Bone point and fragments of votive stupas made of stone were also the noteworthy findings.
