patna the bihar heritage development society bhds a registered society under the state art culture and youth affairs department has signed a memorandum of understanding mou with cardiff university united kingdom to undertake joint research projects in the fields of archaeology history and heritage studies in bihar according to the mou the two institutions will sign a legal agreement for any research project they will undertake they will also organise seminars conferences and workshops related to research projects to be undertaken there will also be mutual visit of faculty members to each others institutions the costs of joint ventures will be borne by each institution for the tasks they will carry in a given projectprofessor james heggarty head of the school of history archaeology and religious studies cardiff university and bijoy kumar choudhary executive director of bhds signed the mou on behalf of their respective organizations the mou will benefit bhds as it will provide it an opportunity to work with the internationally reputed experts and access latest techniques and methods in the field of archaeology a collaboration with an acclaimed institution like cardiff university will help bhds carve out its identity at the international level it will open the doors for further collaborations and activities between the two institutions bandana preyashi secretary of art culture and youth affairs department told toi on fridaythe cardiff university and bhds are already cooperating in a project titled archaeology on the footsteps of the chinese traveller xuanzang under which several new archaeological sites and antiquities have been discovered in patna jehanabad gaya nawada and nalandabijoy choudhary of bhds and max deeg a professor in cardiff university are the joint principal investigators of the project xuanzangs travelogue of india helped alexander cunningham in 1860s and 1870s to identify famous sites such as nalanda and vaishali but no systematic work since then has been undertaken to follow in the footsteps of xuanzang who gave distances directions and descriptions of several ancient sites that he visited between 630 ad and 642 ad professor deeg has translated xuanzangs travelogue of india along with an elaborate commentary and his accurate reading of the text has proved very useful for the archaeologists of bhds who have been exploring the sites described by xuanzang choudhary saidchoudhary said all major hills falling in the region described by xuanzang have been explored and their sculptures antiquities and archaeological features scientifically documented and studied a rough chronological bracket has been assigned to each site in accordance with antiquities and feathers found there the work is still in progress and the places visited by the chinese traveller in nalanda jamui and bhagalpur are being explored choudhary addedbhds is also engaged in excavation at telhara in nalanda district a site described prominently by xuanzang the excavations have unearthed impressive remains of a buddhist monastery and an array of exciting antiquities