Mortimer Wheeler's science of order: the tradition of accuracy at Arikamedu

In February 1944 Mortimer Wheeler, having resigned his duties with the British 8th Army after the Salerno landings, was bound for India. Aboard the City of Exeter, in convoy to Bombay, Wheeler was planning another campaign —to sort out the ‘scientifically deplorable’ state of India’s archaeological survey. Even before he had set a foot on Indian soil, Wheelcr already had a plan. Like all good Officers, colonial and otherwise, Wheeler had determined his plan of attack beforc landing. It is no good to reach a foreign field of a battle and just see what happens. This he had learned from his idol, Lt. General Lane Fox Pitt Rivers; that you must always begin with a plan of attack.