When we began our fieldwork in January 1980, two projects were already underway at the site, one run by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the other by the Karnataka Department of Archaeology and Museums (KDAM), both part of a recently inaugurated National Project. In addition to its usual work of safeguarding and conserving the 58 “protected monuments” at the Vijayanagara site under its control, the ASI had initiated a new phase of clearing and reconstruction in the Royal Centre and Sacred Centre. This work continued through the 1980s and 1990s, and it still ongoing, though little idea of this activity may be had from publications. This is unfortunate, since the archaeologists originally involved in exposing these ancient structures and their associated artefacts are no longer working at the site; some indeed have already retired. Probably the most spectacular discovery by the ASI during this period was the stepped tank immediately south of the Great Platform. ASI conservation work at the site, especially the repairs of the larger temple complexes, is ongoing.

Parallel to the ASI work is that of the KDAM, which also embarked upon intensive clearance of ancient structures, especially in a palace zone in the western part of the Royal Centre labelled somewhat fancifully as the Noblemen's Quarter. Elsewhere at the Vijayanagara site, the KDAM was actively engaged in setting up collapsed structures and even rebuilding new colonnades to match those that had vanished, as in the bazaar street at Hampi. For a time the KDAM vigorously pursued a policy of publications, as may be judged from their Vijayanagara: Progress of Research (VPR) series, now discontinued. Another significant contribution by the KDAM involved the exploration of the site in search of inscriptions, which were then translated and published in the VPR series. (And see inventory of inscriptions edited by Patil and Patil in Bibliography).

Associated projects run by international teams have also been surveying the Vijayanagara site. The Vijayanagara Metropolitan Survey (VMS), under the co-direction of Drs Kathleen Morrison (University of Chicago) and Carla Sinopoli (University of Michigan) and spent 10 years (1987-97) intensively documenting more than 160 square kilometres of the central city’s hinterland. Based on systematic random surveys and surface collections, the VMS established the existence of more than 800 settlements, tanks, agricultural facilities, roads and other indicators of occupation in the past. Their surveys also identified the outermost fortifications and hydraulic features of the capital (See Fortifications). After data-collecting phase of the VMS came to an end the Directors completed a monograph (see Bibliography), reports of their work also appear in Fritz et al 2006, Vijayanagara, Archaeological Explorations, 1990-2000 (see Project Publications) and link to Morrison and Sinopoli 2006, "Contributions of the Vijayanagara Metropolitan Survey".

In 2002 they began an excavation at Kadebakele (Kade Bagilu). This large town site was occupied during the Southern Neolithic, Iron Age (ca. 1000-300 BC), Early Historic Period (ca. 300 BC – AD 500), and perhaps continuously to the fifteenth century. It is located a short distance northeast of Anegondi; on a bluff, it overlooks Vijayanagara period fort walls and gateway complex in one direction, and the River in another. The following year they, and their students and colleagues, enlarged the area of research to include some 35 sq. km with their investigation of Early Historic Landscapes of the Tungabhadra Corridor (EHLTC). The project has resulted in numerous papers by the directors and by Andrew M. Bauer, Radhika Bauer, Robert P. Brubaker, Peter G. Johansen, Mark T. Lycett, Mundit Trivedi, Sharada Srinivasan, and Namita Sugandhi. For a preliminary report of their work at Kadebakele, link to Antiquity http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/sinopoli/#top (and see Bibliography).

(For more information about these projects contact Profs. Morrison and Sinopoli and see Project Participants).

The Vijayanagara Mapping Project, directed by Dr David Nelson Gimbel of Archaeos, Ltd., New York, took an intensive approach to the archaeological record of Vijayanagara. Between 2000 and 2004, his survey team concentrated on a comparatively small area of the Vijayanagara site. The project aimed to prepare highly accurate maps of features and objects found on the North Ridge, an area north of the "Zenana" in the Royal Centre, and in the Noblemen’s Quarter. They combined sophisticated mapping equipment and software to create three-dimensional models. This work improves on the accuracy of our surveyed maps and makes possible the evaluation of our spatial data for future GIS analyses. For more information link to Archaeos http://www.archaeos.org/projects.html