A Stone Bead Manufacturing Centre in Peninsular India: A Preliminary Study of Manufacturing Debitage From Trench F of Mahurjhari Excavations, Maharashtra (original) (raw)
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The megalithic burials of southern India—a wonderfully varied set of monuments—have long needed a chronology and a context. Broadly contemporary with the Roman and Sasanian empires, these dolmens, cairns and cists have continually raised contradictions with their material contents. The authors attack the problem using luminescence applied to pottery at the site of Siruthavoor in north-east Tamilnadu. Although sharing material culture, this first pilot project gave dates ranging from 300 BC to AD 600, so exposing the problem and perhaps, in OSL, its long-term solution.
Anthropological Investigation of Megalithic Burial Sites from Jharkhand
Megalithic burials in India yield three different types of burials; primary burials, Fragmentary burials with disarticulated bones and post cremated secondary burials. In Jharkhand, the excavation of Khuntitoli yielded evidences of post cremated burials of multiple individuals from a single capstone. Many Megalithic monuments are generally reported from the region of Jharkhand. Apart from ancient Megalithic sites, there is a rich tradition of contemporary Megalithic practices among the tribal communities, particularly, with the Mundas and their branches. They practice reburial of bones and post cremated burials as secondary funeral practices. Evidence recovered from excavations throws light on the antiquity of post cremated burials in the region. This paper is concerned towards basic identification of human skeletal remains recovered from four different Megalithic sites in Jharkhand. It deals with basic observation over bones recovered by the first author of this paper. Twisting, fissuring, warping, distortion, transverse breakage over the bones and the creamish white color of their surface indicates that they were charred under cremation in the ancient past, which could be very similar to the tradition of the disposal of the dead as continued today among the Munda society.
Walnut Publication, 2020
Archaeological investigations conducted in the middle Mahanadi valley region of Odisha during the last three decades have brought to light evidence of human occupation ranging in date from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Early Historic period, without much discernible habitation hiatus. However, compared to the prehistoric and proto-historic settlements, sites belonging to the Early Historic period are fairly widespread in the region. Archaeological excavations and explorations in the region have brought to light both fortified and non-fortified types of Early Historic settlements. Studies on the material remains recovered from the excavated sites revealed that the Iron Age villages were gradually developed into full-fledged urban and semi-urban centres in the middle Mahanadi valley region during the Early Historic period. Some of these settlements have also been found to be associated with evidence for craft specialized production i.e. glass objects, iron objects, and precious and semi-precious stone beads. The present paper highlights the material remains recovered from different excavations.
Excavation of a microlithic site and exploration in Ayodhya hills, Purulia, West Bengal
An intensive exploration for a holistic multi-disciplinary study was undertaken in the foothill region of Ayodhya hills, Purulia (1998-99-2006-07) to investigate past relations between people and landscape. A rich concentration of microlithic sites was discovered of which the site of Mahadebbera, Ghatbera, Balarampur police station, was excavated in 2011-12. The microliths belong to a colluvial context, the study of which has yielded interesting information about the Late Pleistocene environment. Dating of the context is being attempted through the OSL (optically stimulated luminescence) method. A study of reduction procedure of the assemblage reveals that the raw material(s) utilized were not found on site or in its vicinity, throwing significant light on past mobility patterns. An exploration program was undertaken in 2012-13 for a better understanding of the context. This paper is the first report on the excavation and exploration programs of 2011-12 and 2012-13.