Born in 1971, Dr. Prabhakar studied Ancient Indian History and Archaeology at Madras University, then at the Institute of Archaeology, Archaeological Survey of India, Delhi, and obtained PhD from Kurukshetra University. He joined the Archaeological Survey of India in 1997 and served at its field offices in Agra and Aurangabad, later as Superintending Archaeologist at Aurangabad Circle and Excavation Branch, Delhi.

Dr. Prabhakar directed excavations at the Harappan sites of Rupnagar (2011-12) and Karanpura (2012-13 and 2013-14), and the medieval site of Daulatabad (2010), besides participating in excavations at Mehtab Bagh, Madarpur, Fatehpur Sikri, Sanauli (all four in Uttar Pradesh), Ellora (Maharashtra) and Kashipur (Uttarakhand). Using the multidisciplinary approach, he conducted metallurgical investigations of copper hoard specimens (from Madarpur), stable isotopic studies of human tooth enamel (from Sanauli), a study of ernestite drill bits (from Dholavira, Gujarat, and Karanpura, Rajasthan) and palaeoclimatic investigations (at Karanpura).

Dr Prabhakar was on deputation to Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar between 2014 and 2017 to develop its Archaeological Sciences Centre, in particular orient research in the analysis of archaeological artefacts and in palaeoclimatic investigations based on archaeobotanical remains. He is currently Director (Excavations and Explorations) at Archaeological Survey of India and has published over 25 articles in peer-reviewed journals.