Human and Heritage: An Archaeological Spectrum of Asiatic Countries (Felicitation to Professor Ajit Kumar)
Volume – II
Editors
Rajesh S. V. Abhayan G. S. Preeta Nayar Ehsan Rahmath Ilahi
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Editorial
We are happy to bring out Human and Heritage: An Archaeological Spectrum of Asiatic Countries (Felicitation to Professor Ajit Kumar) as a symbol of appreciation for the commendable work Prof. Ajit Kumar carried out in the field of archaeological research for the last 36 years. His contributions have covered areas like Buddhist Art, Kerala Archaeology, Ethnography, Rock art, Indian art and Iconography. The role he played in imparting archaeological knowledge to the younger generation and inspiring them to take archaeological research as a profession has been remarkable. There were occasions, especially at its inception stage when the Department of Archaeology started admitting students for Post Graduate courses, he shouldered the responsibility of running a University Department single handedly to the satisfaction of students as well as the authorities of the University.
When we started working on this volume, the response we received from scholars in India and abroad was impressive, and indicative of the respect Prof. Ajit Kumar widely enjoyed in the field of Archaeology. We received 71 articles from established archaeologists and budding scholars, especially the youngsters who pursue Archaeology as a profession, for this volume. These articles dealt with a wide variety of aspects in Archaeology like Prehistory, Protohistory, Iron Age, Historic Period, Art History, Museology, Tourism Studies, Architecture, Ethno archaeology, Numismatics and Iconography.
We, as editors, take this opportunity to thank all the contributors of this volume, who spared their valuable findings with us for the enrichment of this felicitation. We are grateful, in particular, to authors from abroad, who made this publication a remarkable one with their scholarly articles.
We hope that this volume will be useful as an important reference work for all those who are interested and conducting research in Archaeology.
Rajesh S. V., Abhayan G. S., Preeta Nayar and Ehsan Rahmath Ilahi
Contents
Page No. Editorial i-ii Editors iii-iv Contents v-xii Professor Ajit Kumar: A Narrative Account xiii-xlviii Ehsan Rahmath Ilahi
Volume - I
1 Stone Beads from Megalithic Burial at Niramakulam, Kerala 1-22 Akinori Uesugi, Ambily C. S., Ajit Kumar, Abhayan G. S. and Rajesh S. V.
2 The Moorish Mosque of Kapurthala, Punjab 23-41 Vrinda Agrawal
3 Pillayar Ratha of Kalkulam Neelakanda Swami Temple, Tamil 42-57 Nadu Arya P. N. and Preeta Nayar
4 New Light on the Perumals of Kerala: An Analysis of the 58-69 Tirumalai Jain Inscription of Vidugadalagiya Chera Perumal M. S. Dhiraj
5 Ethnohistory as a Conjunctive Approach in New Archaeology: 70-77 A Dialogue with the Annales School Samseer R. H. and Bushra Beegom R. K.
6 Acheulian Thar: A Case Study on Didwana and Jayal in 78-86 Rajasthan Gargi Chatterjee
7 Marici in Buddhism: Notes and Discussion with Reference to 87-93 Images from Ratnagiri, Odisha Sindhu M. J. Human and Heritage: An Archaeological Spectrum of Asiatic Countries
8 The Reflection of Carpet Designs on the Mughal Miniature 94-123 Paintings; As a Folio or Individual Work Somayye Keighobadi Lemjiri
9 Shells and Shell Objects from Moti Chher in Lakhpat Taluka, 124-145 Kachchh District, Gujarat Soorya P., Rajesh S. V., Abhayan G. S., Subhash Bhandari and Bhanu Prakash Sharma
10 The Depiction of Narasimha Panels in the Temple Murals of 146-153 Kerala Sheena V. R.
11 Kalhora Dynasty in Pakistan and Its Impact on Local 154-161 Architecture Syed Shakir Ali Shah and Qasid Hussain Mallah
12 Traditional Vanchi (Boat) Making in Kerala 162-169 Vishnu Surendran and Ajit Kumar
13 Royal Titles, Epithets and Kingship: An Archaeological 170-183 Analysis into the Epigraphical Records of Venad Kings Vinuraj B., Ajit Kumar, Aswani O. K. and Mohammed Muhaseen B. S.
14 Beginning of Pre Harappan Forts 184-195 Umesh Kumar Singh
15 Megalithic Vestiges in Udumbanchola Taluk, Idukki District, 196-223 Kerala Sandra M. S., Rajesh S. V., Abhayan G. S., Sheena V. R. and Renjeshlal S. R.
16 Painted Narratives in Temples at Vira Wah and Nagar Parkar 224-229 in Pakistan Zaheer Uddin Shar and Qasid Hussain Mallah
17 Evidence in Pieces: Osteological Analysis of Stray Findings 230-246 from Kottapuram Human Remains Veena Mushrif-Tripathy
18 Rock Art and Archaeology of Phulsari: A Revisit to a Forgotten 247-256 Multicultural Rock Art Site in Raisen District, Madhya Pradesh Shaik Saleem
vi Contents v-xii
19 Indus Graffiti from Gujarat 257-269 Ehsan Rahmath Ilahi, Rajesh S. V. and Abhayan G. S.
20 Soanian Assemblages from the Bam Locality of Siwalik Frontal 270-295 Range of Himachal Pradesh: A Preliminary Study Worrel Kumar Bain
21 Bronze Casting at Mannar in Alappuzha, Kerala - An 296-317 Ethnographic Study Akhil K. N., Preeta Nayar and Kumbodharan S.
22 New Interpretation on Prehistoric Rock Art at Pha Taem, 318-327 Klong Jeam District, Ubon Ratchathani Province, Thailand Wilasinee Chamsaard
23 Terracotta Roof Tiles from Vizhinjam, Kerala 328-340 Ananthu V. Dev, Rajesh S. V., Ajit Kmar and Abhayan G. S.
24 Tracing the Origins of Aksha Krida (Chaturanga) Game: Study 341-350 of Selected Sculptures and Painting R. H. Kulkarni
25 Tourist Satisfaction towards Archaeological Heritage Sites in 351-354 Sri Lanka with Special Reference to World Heritage Site Galle Dutch Fort Indrachapa Gunasekara
26 Historiography of the Megaliths of Kerala 355-366 K. P. Rajesh
27 Śrīvatsa: Journey of an Auspicious Symbol Crossing All 367-373 Boundaries Arati B. Kulkarni
28 Reminiscing the “Iron Man of India” through Biographical 374-381 Museums: Reflections on the National Memorial, House Museum and the Smruti Kendra Ambika Patel
29 Interfaces of Asian Art in the Art Forms of Karnataka: A Few 382-396 Case Studies M. S. Krishna Murthy
vii Human and Heritage: An Archaeological Spectrum of Asiatic Countries
30 A Comparative Study of Material Culture Found from 397-403 Excavations at Bhokardan and Paunar in Maharashtra K. S. Chandra
31 Kerala’s Mediaeval Society and Trade as Gleaned from 404-413 Literary Works Like Sandesha Kavyas, Achicharithams and Ananthapuravarnanam Mohammed Muhaseen B. S., Ajit Kumar and Vinuraj B.
32 Role of Fairs and Festivals in Facilitating Indigenous Trade 414-422 Network in Early Medieval Kerala N. Sudarsana Kumar
33 Arethipura in Karnataka and Its Surroundings 423-442 R. N. Kumaran and B. Janardhana
34 Glazed Ceramics and Indicators of Glazed Ceramic Production 443-462 from Lashkarshah, Khambhat, Gujarat Arun Kumar K. S., Rajesh S. V. and Abhayan G. S.
35 Tamraparni - Perennial River of Pandya Kingdom: Gleanings 463-470 from Literature, Epigraphy and Numismatics K. R. Ramasundaram
36 Buddhism in Uttarakhand: Monuments from Past and Present 471-480 Alka Barthwal
Volume - II
37 Small Water Crafts of the Lower Chaliyar Basin, Kerala: An 481-496 Ethnographic Approach Jaseera C. M. and Sreelatha Damodaran
38 In Search of a Mythical Artisan: Tracking the Jakanachari 497-524 Legend of Karnataka Apoorva G. and Srikumar M. Menon
39 Analysis of Faunal Remains from Navinal, Gujarat 525-540 Ajith M., Abhayan G. S., Rajesh S. V. and Shad Matthias Gobinsingh
40 Preliminary Report on Documentation and Study of Rock Art 541-565 Sites in Raisen District, Madhya Pradesh, India Shaik Saleem and Parth R. Chauhan
viii Contents v-xii
41 Survey and Documentation of the Built Heritage of District 566-579 Chakwal, Punjab, Pakistan Hadiqa Imtiaz
42 An Interesting Form of Nataraja in the Wooden Panel of 580-587 Ernakulam Shiva Temple in Kerala Kumbhodaran S. and Preeta Nayar
43 Jainism in Kerala: Iconographical Considerations and Identity 588-600 Formations Jenee Peter and Krishnanjali A. R.
44 Gori Jain Temple Icon and Painting Narratives: A Case Study 601-608 of Nagar Parkar, Sindh, Pakistan Zaheer Uddin Shar and Qasid Hussain Mallah
45 An Ethnographic Study of Rock Art of Upper Damodar Valley: 609-621 Jharkhand Himanshu Shekhar, Bulu Imam and Justin Imam
46 Conserving Nature as Cultural Landscape Reflects in the 622-633 Sacred Grove Cult of Hill Tribes of Kerala: A Glance Rohinikrishnan R.
47 Harappan Graffiti from Dholavira 634-645 Vinod V.
48 Art and Architectural Grandeur of Muṇḍeśvarī Temple in 646-653 Bihar: An Overview Vinay Kumar and Umesh Kumar Singh
49 Tomb of Adam Shah Kalhoro, Sukkur, Pakistan 654-657 Syed Shakir Ali Shah and Qasid Hussain Mallah
50 Some Aspects of Deccan History: Based on Foreign 658-671 Travelogues Shaikh Musak Rajjak
51 “Early Medieval” in the History of Kerala 672-680 Arya Nair V. S.
52 Religious Architecture of Bishnupur, Bankura District, West 681-699 Bengal Worrel Kumar Bain
ix Human and Heritage: An Archaeological Spectrum of Asiatic Countries
53 Archaeological Investigation into Microlithic Assemblage of 700-716 Bhorgiri - Bhimashankar Region of the Upper Bhima Basin in Pune District of Maharashtra Amit Sopan Bhagat
54 Archaeological Monuments in Ponnani Taluk, Kerala: An 717-745 Overview Muhammed Fasalu K., Rajesh S. V., Abhayan G. S., Sheena V. R. and Renjeshlal S. R.
55 The Temple in the Sea, that Never Forgets Indian Indentured 746-756 Workers Shad Matthias Gobinsingh
56 Mathura: Settlement Archaeology and Trade Routes 757-771 Vinay Kumar Gupta
57 A Brief History of Incense and Incense Burners 772-782 Anjana S. Nair and Preeta Nayar
58 A Study of Lithic Assemblages in Tali and Lalpur Villages of 783-793 IGNTU from a Typo-technological Approach B. Janardhana and Lalita Lahari
59 A Brief Analysis of Kilimanoor Record and Vellalur Inscription 794-808 Renjeshlal S. R. and Aswathy V. Nair
60 Mural Legacy of St. Mary’s Church at Kalloorkkad, 809-828 Alappuzha, Kerala Reni P. Joseph, Abhayan G. S., Rajesh S. V., Sheena V. R. and Renjeshlal S. R.
61 Archaeo-Tourism in Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh: 829-832 Transformation of the Rock Art Site Lanja Banda into Future Tourist Destination Yadava Raghu
62 Archaeology of Kottayam Taluk, Kerala 833-853 Renjinimol M. N., Rajesh S. V., Abhayan G. S., Sheena V. R. and Renjeshlal S. R.
63 A Bifacial Image of Surya-Narayana from Bihar in National 854-857 Museum, New Delhi Jalaj Kumar Tiwari
x Contents v-xii
64 Heritage Tourist Attractions in Fort Kochi, Kerala 858-868 Raj K. Varman
65 The Fading Murals of Travancore: A Retrospect 869-900 Vysakh A. S.
66 Technology of Temple Building in Medieval South India, with 901-910 Special Reference to Viswakarma Community V. Ramabrahmam
67 An Appraisal of Megalithic Religion, Beliefs and Practices with 911-921 Special Reference to Kerala Aswani O. K., Ajit Kumar and Vinuraj B.
68 Decoding the Language of Sculptures at Rameshwar; Cave No. 922-925 21 - Ellora: The Search for the Unseen Rahul Deshpande
69 A Unique Prehistoric Painted Panel of Ranganatha Gudda 926-935 (Badami) in Peninsular India: Cultural Ecology Mohana R.
70 Pre and Protohistoric Archaeology of Kerala: Issues and 936-939 Challenges Saravanan R.
71 A Note on the Bharata and Bahubali Wrestling (Grappling) 940-942 Panel at the Jabareshvara Temple at Phaltan, Maharashtra Kush Dhebar
Contributors xlix-lvi
xi
Archaeological Investigation into Microlithic Assemblage of Bhorgiri - Bhimashankar Region of the Upper Bhima Basin in Pune District of Maharashtra
Amit Sopan Bhagat
Introduction In South Asia microlithic industries are fairly widespread in Holocene contexts and have been reported from a wide variety of geo-ecological habitats. However, recent studies at Mehtakheri in the Nimar region of Madhya Pradesh (Mishra et al. 2013), Jurreru river valley in Andhra Pradesh (Petraglia et al. 2009, Clarkson et al. 2009) and at Mahadebbera and Kana in Purulia district of West Bengal (Basak et al. 2014) have pushed back the antiquity of microlithic tradition in India to the late Pleistocene period. The occurrence of microlithic technologies in diverse spatio-temporal settings clearly suggests its versatility and significance, which had an earlier beginning in the sub-continent, hitherto not expected (Behra et al. 2007).
Microlith is a narrow flake blunted on one or both edge by steep, secondary chopping but devoid of secondary work on any face (Clark 1932), sometimes retouched and backed, and usually measured as a part of composite hafted tools. The nature and function of microliths has been confusing, however, they are often standardized and precisely made relative to other classes of stone tools (Elston and Kuhn 2002).
Emergence of microlithic technology not only plays a major role to give adequate data to know about the origins of modern humans and their dispersal in different parts of the world, but also in the development of human capacities for complex behaviour and symbolic thoughts (Mendaly and Hussain 2015).
Microliths are the most abundantly found archaeological material in Indian subcontinent today. They are mostly found on surface and thus their occurrences in stratified contexts are much sought after (Padhan et al. 2017).
Primary aim of these explorations is to document lithic findings of the region, which essentially pertains to the Upper Palaeolithic-Mesolithic era. The Upper Bhima basin has yielded evidence for the last phase of the Deccan chalcolithic i.e. late Jorwe, at sites like Inamgaon, Songaon, Khed, Talegaon Dhamdhere, etc. (Dhavalikar 1988, Panja 1995, Naik and Mishra 1997). Sites Bhagat 700-716 yielding apparently early and late Jorwe assemblages have also been documented in the lower Bhima basin (Sundara 1968).
However, there are considerable gaps in the present knowledge about the wider nature of abandonment of the Bhīma valley chalcolithic sites in relation to the emergence of the early historical settlements (Khaladkar 2007-08). Similar gap exists between Palaeolithic and Chalcolithic phases in the upper Bhīma basin.
Figure 1: Location Map of Explored Area in the Upper Bhima Basin
Hence, it is highly imperative to have a systematic survey in this region to understand the pre- Chalcolithic phase of Western Deccan region, especially the Mesolithic-Neolithic phase, in its larger context of nature and links with preceding phases to arrive at a better understanding of its cultural traits.
In this context, recent micro-lithic finds by the author of the paper would certainly result into opening new vistas of study and research pertaining to Stone Age period of Western Maharashtra. The study reveals that the Stone Age sites discovered during exploration are located on the upper reaches of the river within a circle with a radius of 10 km. All these un- reported Stone Age sites in the Upper Bhīma basin are open air sites and are full of caves or natural rock shelters. Microlithic sites are found on variety of geological contexts i.e. foothills, hill slope, hillocks, riversides and erosional surface.
The present paper deals with the Upper Bhīma basin region (Figures 1 and 2) with special reference to Bhorgiri-Bhimashankar area which reveals six microlithic sites discovered during recent exploration work. Lithic assemblages and artefacts recovered from these sites point towards flourishing Upper Palaeolithic - Mesolithic culture in the region.
Geography of Study Area: River Bhima The study was carried out in the Bhīma river basin, one of the major tributaries of the Krishna River. The river originates near Bhimashankar temple (19° 04′ 03″ N; 73° 33′ 00″ E) in Khed
701 Human and Heritage: An Archaeological Spectrum of Asiatic Countries
Taluka of Pune district in the state of Maharashtra. Bhimashankar, situated on the crest of the Western Ghats, known as Sahyadri, marks the source of the Bhīma River. Arising from the altitude of about 945 metre (3250 ft.) above the sea level, the river falls over terrace of rocks some 600 feet in the first few miles of its course. It then swings south-eastwards for a long journey of 861 kilometres through Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Telangana states, with many smaller rivers as tributaries (Job 1980).
Figure 2: Location of Bhimashankar-Bhorgiri Area, Showing the Area of Exploration
The river flows through Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary where it enters Khed Taluka (US Army Map Service 1962). Bhīma merges into the Krishna along the border between Karnataka and Telangana about 24 km north of Raichur at Kadlur at an altitude of 343 metre. In Maharashtra, the river flows a length of 450 km. The mainstream of Bhīma River flows from Pune, Ahmednagar and Solapur districts of the state. The catchment however is spread over seven districts viz. Pune, Solapur, Ahmednagar, Satara, Sangli, Beed and Osmanabad (SANDRP 2017).
The basin is trapezoidal in shape with its axis aligning northwest to southeast. Bhīma basin is located on the northern border of Krishna basin separated from Godavari Basin by Harishchandra and Balaghat ranges. Bounded by Western Ghats on West, it is separated from Upper Krishna sub basin (catchment of Krishna mainstream) by Mahadeo ranges (SANDRP 2017).
The total basin area of the Bhīma River is 48,631 square kilometres, out of which 75% lie in the state of Maharashtra. Basin is divided into Upper, Middle and Lower sub-basins. Upper Bhīma basin receives water from Bhama, Indrayani, Vel, Mula and Mutha rivers. In the downstream, the Bhīma River is joined by Ghod, Nira, Man, Sina, and Bori tributaries. While Upper and Lower Bhīma basin falls entirely in Maharashtra about 5% area of Lower Bhīma basin falls in the state (Dandekar 2016).
Upper Bhīma basin is geographically defined as the area between origin of Bhīma and confluences of the Bhīma and Nira; whereas Middle Bhīma basin is the area between the confluence of the Bhīma-Nira and the Bhīma-Sina, while the lower Bhīma basin constitutes the area between the confluence of the Bhima-Sina and Bhima-Krishna (Khaladkar 2007-08).
702 Bhagat 700-716
Description of Site Bhorgiri (19°02 ' 32" N; 73° 34' 08" E) and Yelwali ( 19° 02' 06" N; 73° 33' 20" E) located on the right bank of Bhīma River (tributary of Krishna drainage system) in western Maharashtra region of District Pune, Maharashtra are the microlithic factory sites that belong to Upper Palaeolithic to Mesolithic phases and each site is spread over an approximate area of 3-6 sq.km. These sites are located at a distance of 95 kms from the district headquarter Pune and around 4- 6 kms from Bhimashankar, one of the most sacred places of Shaivites and one of the twelve famous Jyotirlingas of Shiva. This entire region selected for exploration purpose basically falls under Wada circle of Khed Taluka.
Figure 3: Pentagonal Area Showing Location of Bhorgiri Site Near Koteshwar Mahadeo Temple
Figure 4: General View of Site Bhorgiri
703 Human and Heritage: An Archaeological Spectrum of Asiatic Countries
Bhimashankar range is the northern boundary of the Wada Circle and the slope of this range is from north to south. This range has the escarpment with a cliff and a chain of waterfalls exist at Bhorgiri and Mandoshi on the north of Bhīma River. Bhorgiri site is located on the right bank of Bhīma River and at the backside of the Medieval temple of Koteshwar Mahadeo in the Bhorgiri village. The temple is quite popular among people (Figures 3 and 4). It is believed to be built during Shilahara-Yadava period and constructed in Hemadpanti style of temple architecture.
While Yelwali site is situated about 2 kms southwest of Bhorgiri village and 4 kms southeast of Bhimashankar temple (Figure 5). The site is located near Yelwali village (A small village of 18 houses only) on top of the hill at raised plateau, close to the confluence of three streams that comes out of evergreen forest and originates near Bhimashankar cliff known as Ambenali. The resulting stream then forms a large gushing cascade that descends from the rocky cliff from the height of around 100 ft. and finally meets Bhīma River.
Figure 5: General View of Site Yelwali
Interestingly, both these sites have yielded evidence of Microliths in surface context too. Around 287 artefacts were collected and studied from above localities.
Besides these factory sites, several other localities too have yielded microlithic tools, cores and raw material nodules; but they were not considered as cardinal sites because of problems in their context and originality. These localities include nearby villages of Bhivegaon (19° 02' 28" N; 73° 35' 06" E), Tokavade (19° 02' 15 "N; 73° 36' 25" E), Shirgaon (19° 01' 45"N; 73° 37' 01" E) and Dhuoli (19° 01' 44"N; 73° 37' 28"E). Stratigraphically the lithic assemblages have been found associated with erosional surfaces, composed of loose silty-sandy-clay of yellowish-brown colour associated with riverine coarse gravel.
Previous Research Sporadic finds of microliths and Neolithic implements were made in India before 1863, but it was in that year Robert Bruce Foote, a geologist in the Geological survey of India first identified a Palaeolithic implement in India in a gravel pit at Pallavaram near Madras (Misra 1986). Discoveries were also made in other parts of India, and the wide distribution of Palaeolithic and prehistoric implements in the country was amply clear by the beginning of the twentieth century (Deep 2017).
Stone Age research during this period was in tune with developments elsewhere in the Old World. The emphasis was towards the building of regional stratigraphical frameworks, making
704 Bhagat 700-716 typo-technological analysis of stone artefacts and reconstructing paleo-climatic events. British geologists and officials were in the forefront and the works of Coggin Brown (1917), Foote (1916), Cammiade and Burkitt (1930), de Terra and Paterson (1939) and Todd (1939) provided models for Stone Age research in India (Pappu 2004-05).
During 1943-44, Sankalia carried out investigations for Stone Age remains in the Godavari river valley and along its tributaries in Nasik district of Maharashtra and discovered a flake industry made of chert and jasper (Sankalia 1943, 1945). In 1952, he examined the Godavari River near Gangawadi dam site near Nasik city and recovered a Lower Palaeolithic assemblage made of Deccan Trap basalt from the lowermost gravel bed (Sankalia 1952). During the year 1954-55, Sankalia examined the alluvial deposits of the Pravara River at Nevasa, Ahmednagar district and discovered relics of three chronologically distinct Palaeolithic industries in successive gravel deposits separated by silts. It included handaxes, cleavers fashioned on basalt and associated with mammalian fossils (Sankalia 1956).
The region around Pune city (Maharashtra) in the Mula-Mutha basin was examined by Sankalia (1966) and tools of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic industries were collected from this region. Upper stretches of the Bhīma had been a neglected area as far as archaeological explorations were concerned, until recently, while there were only sporadic reports of pre and proto historic sites in middle Bhīma basin.
Despite decades of intensive research on the prehistory of Western Maharashtra, especially by the Deccan College of Archaeology - Pune, barely a handful of Stone Age sites are reported from the upper Bhīma basin region. Most of their Stone Age research was primarily concentrated on Nevasa, Morgaon, Junnar, Pune and Nasik city region. Recently few prehistoric lithic artefacts were reported from Kolhapur region - Ajra, Sulgaon and Madilge (Joglekar and Deo 2017) and Satara-Wai region around Urmodi river basin (Joglekar 2018) by researchers of Deccan College. Therefore, there is a dearth of information about existence of pre-Chalcolithic culture in the Upper Bhīma basin region. There is no documented evidence available on the prehistory of this area, clearly indicating that no research work has been carried out in this area till date, which is still reckoned as one of the most widespread tribal belts of Western Maharashtra, and also forms a part of Bhimashankar wildlife sanctuary.
Methodology The study of prehistoric sites basically depends on the archaeological remains, which are found scattered over a vast geographical area. The areas surveyed for understanding geoarchaeology include uppermost parts of River Bhīma and its initial sub-streams. Survey was successful as six new archaeological sites were discovered and recorded. Most of these sites were discovered on the bank of River Bhīma, its sub-streams and also along the hill slopes. Many microlithic sites are found at the base of the hills spreading over the granitic outcrops or near the exposed cliff surfaces of the river and sometimes in piedmont areas. The cultural materials collected from different sites have been analysed by applying recent methodologies and systematic sampling procedure has been followed for collecting samples from different sites. Rocky areas, waste lands, hilly terrain, hill slopes and river banks were also surveyed to understand the pre-quaternary geology and provenance of the raw material sources used for tools as of class present in the alluvium. A series of attributes were recorded for each microlith to gain further understanding into the typological and technological details of each piece. These attributes
705 Human and Heritage: An Archaeological Spectrum of Asiatic Countries
include physical condition of artefacts, breakage pattern, striking marks, the preserved component of the tool, raw material type, maximum length, width, and thickness. Raw material analysis was also carried out based on its quality, type, colour and strength through visual assessment.
Raw Material Classification The raw material properties like quality, shapes and sizes, relative abundance and the distance of sites from their source significantly influence execution of the stone tool technologies and the typological composition of Microlithic assemblages (Andrefsky 1998).
Basically, five types of raw material have been observed in the explored area; chert, quartz, chalcedony, agate and jasper. Chert is a sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz. It is the most dominating material found at Yelwali site on the elevated plateau along the cliff. There are several different types of chert occurring in this area such as Red chert, Black chert, Green chert, Brown chert, Grey chert, Banded reddish chert, Reddish off white chert, etc. The assemblages demonstrate that locally available quartz was expediently worked to produce informal flake-based technology. Two types of quartz found here include crystal quartz and milky quartz. Different types of chalcedony nodules which have been utilised in the study area were found scattered at Bhorgiri site, where chalcedony is the predominant raw material for microlithic tools. Chalcedony was the most widely used material in the river valley sites. Agate and jasper were also used for tool making but relatively in lesser proportion than other materials. They are more frequently found near hill slopes and mountainous area than in river valley and along river banks. While analysing the raw materials, quality and colour were also recorded for each artefact. Both these attributes were assessed visually and accordingly they were categorized into classes like - very fine, fine, coarse, very coarse, etc.
Although basalt forms a predominant material in the region, the site has exceptional evidence of the dominant use of chert (around 52% of the assemblage) for the production of microliths. Chalcedony appears to be the second preferred material (~ 25%), followed by the use of quartz (~10%), agate (~8%) and jasper (~5%). Among the chert types Red chert, Brown chert and Reddish off white chert dominated other variety. Also, the use of milky quartz was far more than crystal quartz. Milky white chalcedony has also been preferred for lithic production. Whereas yellowish brown agate and yellow jasper were the major types in their respective categories. During the course of production of the tool, debitages were left at the site of production, which is a good indicator of a manufacturing centre (Crabtree 1967). Debitage analysis is a basic technique used in the reconstruction of a lithic production system.
Tool Typology of the Site After classification, tools were sorted from each category of artefacts. A sufficiently good number of finished tools have been reported from both Bhorgiri (Figure 6) and Yelwali sites. The Microlithic assemblage of Bhorgiri-Yelwali is both non-geometric and geometric type. A well-developed blade technology is the most outstanding feature of this Microlithic assemblage.
Bhorgiri The lithic assemblage of Bhorgiri site contains 98 artefacts (Figures 7-9). Among these, a total of 46 finished tools (46.94%) have been noticed, whereas 52 unfinished tools that include 21 raw
706 Bhagat 700-716 material nodules (21.43%), 9 Blade Cores (9.19%), 8 Flake Cores (8.16%) and 14 Debitage (14.29%) have also been found.
Figure 6: A few Lithic Artefacts from Bhorgiri
Blades (13) and Bladelets (5) together have dominated the tool types with approximately 13.27% and 5.1% respectively. Scrapers of different varieties have occupied second position among all tool types, which include 8 Side Scrapers (8.16%), 5 End Scrapers (5.10%) and 1 Round Scraper (1.02%). Third position is occupied by End Points, they are 5 in numbers and constitute 5.10% of total lithic assemblage. 5 Borers/Burins (5.10%) have also been reported. Presence of 1 Lunate (1.02%) is the main characteristic of this site. Lithic assemblage also contains Upper Palaeolithic tools, out of which 2 Scrapers (2.04%) and 1 Burin (1.02%) are reported. The following table shows the types of various tools of Bhorgiri (Table 1).
Table 1: Lithic Assemblages from Exploration at Bhorgiri Sl.No. Tool Type Number of Specimens Percentage 1 Blade 13 13.27 2 Bladelet 5 5.1 3 End Scraper 5 5.1 4 Side Scraper 8 8.16 5 Round Scraper 1 1.02 6 End Point 5 5.1 7 Lunate 1 1.02 8 Borer/Burin 5 5.1 9 Blade Core 9 9.19 10 Flake Core 8 8.16 11 Raw Material Nodule 21 21.43 12 Debitage 14 14.29 13 Upper Palaeolithic Scraper 2 2.04 14 Upper Palaeolithic Burin 1 1.02 Total 98 100
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Figure 7: Microlithic Components from Bhorgiri; 1-7 Bladelets, 8-10 Simple Blades, 11-15 Retouched Blades, 16 Micro-blade
Figure 8: Microliths from Bhorgiri; Upper Palaeolithic (1-2 scrapers, 3 burin) and Mesolithic (4 Side Scraper, 5 End Scraper, 6 Round Scraper, 7-11 Borers, 12 End Points, 13 Lunate)
Figure 9: Microlithic Components from Bhorgiri; 1-4 Flake Cores, 5 Side Point, 6-7 Side Scrapers, 8 Simple Blade
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Yelwali The lithic assemblage of Yelwali site contains 189 artefacts (Figures 10-13). Among these, a total of 94 finished tools (49.74%) have been noticed, whereas 95 unfinished tools that include 10 raw material nodules (5.29%), 21 Blade Cores (11.11%) and 24 Flake Cores (12.7%) and 40 Debitage (21.16%) have also been found.
Figure 10: Microlithic Components from Yelwali
Blades (30) and Bladelets (5) together have dominated the tool type with approximately 15.87% and 2.65% respectively. Scrapers of different variety have occupied second position among all tool types, which include 14 Side Scrapers (7.41%) and 10 End Scrapers (5.29%). The next position has been occupied by Points, which include 11 End Points (5.82%) and 4 Tanged Points (2.12%). 13 Borers has also been reported. Presence of 6 Lunates (3.17%) and 1 Trapeze (0.53%) is regarded as the main characteristics of this site. The following table shows the types of various tools of Yelwali (Table 2).
Figure 11: Microlithic Components from Yelwali; 1-3 Lunates, 4-5 Side Scrapers, 6 End Scraper, 7 Trapeze, 8-9 Bladelets, 10-11 Retouched Blades, 12-14 Simple Blades, 15-21 Micro-blade
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Table 2: Lithic Assemblages from Exploration at Yelwali Site Sl.No. Tool Type Number of Specimens Percentage 1 Blade 30 15.87 2 Bladelet 5 2.65 3 End Scraper 10 5.29 4 Side Scraper 14 7.41 5 End Point 11 5.82 6 Tanged Point 4 2.12 7 Lunate 6 3.17 8 Trapeze 1 0.53 9 Borer 13 6.88 10 Blade Core 21 11.11 11 Flake Core 24 12.7 12 Raw Material Nodule 10 5.29 13 Debitage 40 21.16 Total 189 100
Figure 12: Microlithic Components from Yelwali; 1-4 End Points, 5 Tanged Point, 6-7 Side Scrapers, 8-13 Borers
Settlement Pattern of Microlithic Sites in Upper Bhima Basin The Microlithic sites found are either immediately adjacent to the river stream or situated near the hill slope, near a natural sub-stream thus making water readily available. Possible usage of the microliths during the Mesolithic period is exemplified by several extraordinary finds of composite tools made of bone, antler or wood with lithic inserts. Such artefacts, preserved in favourable circumstances, show a complexity of human technological thought during Mesolithic period (Burdukiewicz 2005). The sites found near the river were certainly very important as they must have served multiple purposes. Apart from being hunting and fishing stations, such sites provided for plant foods that could be grown in the river alluvium. These sites must have also served strategic locations for targeting animals when they came near the
710 Bhagat 700-716 source of water for drinking. The sites located on the hill slopes must have been equally important for exploitation of the animal resources and gathering variety of available wild fruits, vegetables, nuts and tubers grown in forested environment. The sites located in the hill slopes get several advantages in hunting or trapping the animal and served as an easy target while getting down from the hill for their food search. These hill slope sites were certainly preferred by the Stone Age man as they never get flooded during rains, they are rich in variety of plant fruits during monsoon and provides shade during hard summer (Padhan 2016).
Figure 13: Microlithic Component from Yelwali; 1-5 Flake Cores, 6-8 Blade Cores
Bhorgiri site found near river bank has spread over around 50 m x 60 m area. However, the hill slope site of Yelwali is wider and larger than the riverine site and spread over 75 m x 80 m area. The riverine site is comparatively smaller and found in pockets on the exposed or eroded river banks. The other scattered microlithic locations in Bhivegaon, Tokavade, Shirgaon and Dhuoli, may have very few artefacts but their functional attributes to understand the human behaviour cannot be ignored. These sites were probably used for short durations or single episode spot involving an individual or small group of Mesolithic population engaged in food collecting and processing. Such sites may include hunting sites, butchering sites, kill sites, gathering sites and manufacturing spots. Scholars have suggested that these sites might have served as satellite of large sites (Foley 1981, Paddayya 1991, Thomas 1975: 62).
All these sites are discovered in open air context close to water bodies. But, besides these open- air microlithic factory sites, a large number of natural rock-shelters or caves occur in this mountainous area of Bhimashankar highland and most of them are quite suitable for habitation. Out of these numerous natural rock shelters, the one that lies between Bhorgiri and Yelwali was explored by an author. The cave shelter visited was devoid of any engraving or pottery. There was an absence of Palaeolithic artefacts too in the rock shelter however it has yielded microlithic tools on the floor, which includes - Blades, Bladelets, Scrapers and Blade Cores; directly indicating its use as a shelter by humans during Mesolithic period.
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These rock shelters must have been the habitational sites as they yield a wider range of tool types. The presence of such a wide varieties of tool types shows that they were used for various activities. These rock shelters have been used for habitation purpose as geologically there are plenty of natural rock shelters (Figure 14) found in the area. The area is full of large caves or rock shelters which suggest that people must have taken shelter in it, instead of occupying open air spaces by finding shelter under large trees or making camps on the higher elevated ground such as basaltic outcrops which also gives a suitable natural floor for habitation.
Figure 14: General View of Explored Natural Rock Shelter
These sites also show presence of raw material nodules that were quarried from somewhere else. The amount of debris such as manufacturing debitage of the finished or semi-finished tools, discarded tools as well as cores in these sites shows that the sites were used for habitation purposes for longer periods. However, once the food resources were exhausted, they shifted to a new area wherever they found new resources.
Microlithic sites yielded some finished flake and blade tools such as Backed Blade, Lunates, Backed Points, Backed Knives, Triangle, Borer, Burin, and variety of Scraper. Each site may represent different tasks such as processing, repairing and extracting activities on all types of materials (Cooper 1983). The sites located near water reservoir, streams and the presence of forest nearby must have offered large variety of game animals and plant foods. These places were certainly suitable for habitational purposes (Issac 1960, Clark 1975, Paddayya 2006). The Stone Age man in the area must have taken advantage of this seasonal natural food availability. Even today the tribal people of this region exploit the seasonal natural resources and store them for future use.
Discussion The development of stone tool technology has a long history of evolution from the large flake tools to the tiny blade composite tools of microlithic period. With the selection of finer quality raw materials and variety of improved hard or soft hammers and indirect percussion and pressure techniques brought a drastic change in stone tool technology (Bar-Yosef 1991: 235). These microliths appeared to be more successful in hunting than the large tools of the preceding period. The use of microlithic tools were very effective because of their light weight, durability, multiplicity, razor sharp cutting edges and pointed tip, and were more penetrative and caused deadly injuries to the game (Behera et al. 1996). Cores having higher numbers of platforms have
712 Bhagat 700-716 shown that such specimens are more intensively reduced and also produced a lot of core rejuvenation flakes. This may also be interpreted as the lack of good raw material in nearby areas; therefore, all the cores were intensively worked to produce more blades out of them. Some of the blade cores have sharp edges at their base and could have also served as core scrapers (Tripathi 1980, Deep 2017).
Not a single Acheulian tool have been found so far from the region. But it was quite obvious that there must be an increase in population during Mesolithic period because of successful advancement in hunting gathering techniques. During this period also, people were successfully utilising abundant natural resources found in the forests and valleys. Even nowadays the river valley supports a large number of tribal populations of Mahadeo Koli tribe, whose main source of subsistence are agriculture, gathering, fishing and occasional hunting.
The generalised and expedient lithic technology provides a rare insight into the Mesolithic hunting-gathering economy of Western Maharashtra in general and of the region in particular. The Mesolithic is a Prehistoric period of great importance for the history of humankind, due to the great technological developments achieved. In fact, the Mesolithic is neither just the end of hunter-gatherers in the world, nor the prelude to a Neolithic socio-cultural lifestyle, but an important period of human development in its own right, that profoundly altered the pace of our prehistory. During this time, humans ceased pure exploitation of the natural world and began to integrate themselves within it (Matás 2013).
The industry is evident in Blades, Burins, Trapezes, Lunates, Points, Backed Blades, Retouched Blades and variety of Scrapers, Bladelets of various size and the flakes of different shapes, all these have been struck off from a variety of cores especially the glutted ones indicating that the blades have been removed in several ways in one direction, in two directions (either from one end and side or from both ends), in three direction or sometimes in multiple direction. The Flake Cores show irregular scar. A few small cores are roughly round in shape and have centrally directed scars which indicate that they were probably prepared before removing the flakes. The Blade and flakes have been removed by soft hammer of bone or wood by the soft- hammer technique or by pressure flaking technique.
Variety of cores represented in the assemblage (Blade Cores and Flake Cores), these were found in various shapes such as pyramidal, conical and cylindrical; indicating diversity in core management. The cores were found to be well prepared before blades and flakes were being detached. Various small sized pebbles (4-7 cm in diameter) found in riverbed shows battering marks, which indicates that they were being used as hammers and thus pointing towards direct percussion technique. Some upper Palaeolithic tools such as Scrapers and Burin were reported from Bhorgiri site, suggesting the existence of Upper Palaeolithic culture too along the riverside. During the exploration it was observed that Bhīma River was thickly populated by the Upper Palaeolithic-Mesolithic times. Thus, further investigations in the area could provide promising results and give a good insight into the cultural sequence of the Upper Bhima basin in the Western Maharashtra region.
Concluding Remarks Microlithic industry of the Bhīma River exhibits a tool tradition, which certainly adds to the significance of the region. It is true that this industry has come from surface, by comparative
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analysis they can be easily correlated with the stratified finds of the region. In order to get the stratified context of Mesolithic culture of the region in general and of these sites in particular, there is need of an excavation of such sites. Stratified deposits generally provide a relative chronology, though most of the microlithic industries of the Indian subcontinent cannot be fixed in an absolute chronological framework (Jayaswal and Pant 1980, Jayaswal 1998).
Further intensive systematic and scientific survey with multidisciplinary aspects in the region will provide valuable insights into the human adaptive strategies i.e. their cultural system, functional and/or seasonal grouping, the prehistoric lifestyle and the relative roles played by the prehistoric hunter-gatherers and their hunting and gathering activities in the food economy of the contemporary foragers and site distribution pattern of the Microlithic using community. In view of the above, we may succeed at least partly, in tracing the existence of Mesolithic culture in the region of Upper Bhīma basin (Mendaly and Hussain 2015).
The present research shows the potential of the isolated and neglected areas of the highlands of the upper Bhīma basin. Earlier the prehistoric significance of the Bhīma river valley, especially of the Upper Bhīma basin was little known in the Indian Mesolithic context but this investigation has been successful in establishing that the region was one of the significant areas for prehistoric occupation and adaptations. The work certainly indicates possibilities for further Palaeolithic and geoarchaeological studies in the Upper Bhīma basin and adjoining areas.
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