A four-member team led by archeology officer Ram Bahadur Kunwar has started excavation work in the land belonging to the Archeology Department at Shivagad in Kapilvastu-12 on Friday evening.

Kunwar said that the Lumbini Development Trust (LDT) is planning to construct various infrastructures in the area for the overall development of tourism in Tilaurakot.

They started the fresh excavation to save places of historical and archeological importance before any of that is done.  

Ten workers including technicians have started the excavation work by digging trenches that are 10 meters wide and 2 meters deep.

After the excavation work that will last for a week, Kunwar said that his archaeology team will submit a report to the LDT, advising as to whether it should start construction works in the area or not.

LDT vice chairman Acharya Karmasangbo Sherpa said that they will start the construction works only after they receive a final report from the excavation team.

Earlier, a team of archeologists from the Department of Archeology, the Lumbini Development Trust and experts from the Unesco and UK-based Durham University had excavated the area by taking out soil sample after digging two to three meters deep.

The team said that they had found ancient cultural artifacts like mud utensils during the excavation.

The city of Tailaurakot had caught the eyes of the archaeologists after a recent geological survey conducted in the area substantiated that there might be remains of an ancient city underneath the ground, prompting the archaeologists to start the excavation.