Maritime Ports in Bengal

Shahnaj Husne Jahan

Shahnaj Husne Jahan (b. 1966), daughter of Advocate Md. Abdul Hai_and Litterateur Julekha Usmani, is a professor of archaeology; director of the Center for Archaeological Studies and head of the General Education Department in the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh. She has been involved in teaching South and Southeast Asian archaeology, maritime archaeology, urbanization and ancient cities, community based cultural heritage management and tourism, heritage law and policy for over two and a half decades. She is a lawyer at Dhaka BAR Association. She obtained her MA (1991) in Islamic Art & Archaeology from the University of Dhaka, MPhil (1997) and PhD (2004) in Archaeology from the Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute (Pune, India). She has contributed to several archaeological projects in South and Southeast Asia and developed various strategies to stimulate public interest in archaeological heritage management. Her major publications include Excavating Waves and Winds of (Ex)change: A Study of Maritime Trade in Early Bengal (2006) and Abhijnan: Studies in South Asian Archaeology and Art History of Artefacts (2009). She has travelled in Asia, Europe and North America. She was honoured with the Anannya Top Ten Award, (2008), Asia Fellow Award (2010) and Sher-e-Bangla A.K. Fazlul Haque Smriti Padak (2014).