Kapilvastu, March 5 -- The ancient Shakya capital of Kapilvastu was, until around 2,500 years ago, one of South Asia's most systematically planned and well-organised cities. Excavations, studies and research conducted over the past 12 years by a joint team of archaeologists and experts from Durham University in the United Kingdom, Nepal's Department of Archaeology, and the Lumbini Development Trust have confirmed this.

Laboratory tests carried out in Britain, including soil analysis and carbon dating, revealed the site's great antiquity. Yet despite its immense archaeological and historical significance, the site today lies in a dilapidated and neglected state, reduced in many places to ruins.

Excavations have uncovered evidence of an o...