Preliminary Studies of Human Skeletal Remains Excavated from Dihar (2012 ‐ 13), District Bankura, West Bengal Veena Mushrif‐Tripathy1, Rupendra K. Chattopadyay2, Dipsikha Acharya2, Shubha Majumder2 and Bijan Mondal2 1. Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, Deemed to be University, Pune – 411 006, Maharashtra, India (Email:
[email protected]) 2. Department of Archaeology, Calcutta University, Alipur, Kolkata – 700 027, West Bengal, India (Email:
[email protected]) Received: 17 August 2017; Revised: 14 September 2017; Accepted: 08 October 2017 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 5 (2017): 606‐619 Abstract: Present paper deals with the preliminary findings of the study of human skeleton excavated at Dihar, (Lat. 23˚7΄10˝ N‐23° 08ʹ 10˝ N, and Long. 87˚21 ʹ E‐87˚ 22΄ E), in close proximity to the late medieval temple town of Vishnupur (the capital of the ancient Malla dynasty), in the north‐eastern part of the district of Bankura, West Bengal. The site was excavated by the Department of Archaeology, University of Calcutta by second author. The human skeleton excavated in 2012‐13 from the trench C 1 was studied by the first author in November 2013. The site gives evidence from Pre‐metallic EVF (Early Village Farming) to late medieval period and the skeleton probably belonging to early historical period. Almost completely preserved individual is male and aged around 45 – 50 years. The observations include osteometry, Odontometry and pathological lesions. Keywords: Excavation, Dihar, Age Estimation, Stature Estimation, Sex Determination, Dental Attrition, Odontometry Introduction This paper presents the observations on human skeleton excavated at Dihar during the field season of 2012‐2013 under the guidance of second author, on behalf of the Department of Archaeology, University of Calcutta.