DOCSLIB.ORG

Harappan Burial Tradition

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Harappan Burial Tradition Some Legacy of the Early Iron Age Burials: Harappan Burial Tradition Shantanu Vaidya1 and Yogesh Mallinathpur M.1 1. Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, Pune 411006, Maharashtra, India Received: 22 September 2013; Accepted: 11 October 2013; Revised: 20 October 2013 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 1 (2013): 244‐261 Abstract: Burials are known in the archaeological cultures of the Indian subcontinent from the Mesolithic period. By the Early Iron Age period these burials become very elaborate and dominate the landscape as monuments generally termed as megalithic monuments. However these burial traditions which appear in the Early Iron Age period have had a background of the earlier burial traditions. In the Harappan context, there have been excavated many sites which have yielded burial grounds prominent among them are Harappa, Kalibangan, Mehrgarh, Sanauli, Farmana, Lothal and so on. An examination of the burials with reference to the appendages, burial traditions such as grave offerings, positions and physical types involved, it can be said that the burials of the Early Iron Age period did have an influence of these Harappan traditions on them. An attempt is made here to understand the influence or rather the legacy carried forward by these Early Iron Age burials from the Harappan burial traditions along with the traditions which they had inherited from the local Neolithic and Chalcolithic communities. Keywords: Burial Practices, Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Harappan Civilization, Early Iron Age, Peninsular India, Grave Goods Introduction The phenomenon of progress in life towards ultimate end was probably understood much earlier than the concept of death related ritual began. Mourning or a kind of feeling penitence for loss of near and dear ones are even seen in the case of animals. The feeling of departing must have been painful to them, when one sees often, for instance, a mother monkey holding the dead baby till it decomposes and falls apart. It is also well evident in case of birds, especially crows and animals like elephants, who show similar kind of behaviour. The Early Man must have felt for the departing kith and kin and taken care for a respectable appropriate enduring parting. The ritual of burials for the dead can be traced back to the Neanderthals in Europe and Middle East. Evidence comes from the site of Kebara Cave in Israel where the skull of the dead is removed. Along with these, burials of children from Syria and France are found with stone slabs covering them (Stringer and Andrews 2012: 154‐5). Such convincing evidence has not been available as yet for any such practice of intentional burials Vaidya and Mallinathpur 2013: 244‐261 during the Palaeolithic period in India. Archaeological evidences start appearing when we arrive at the Mesolithic phase of Stone Age. In India, Archaeological evidence for some such intentional burial custom appears in India during the Mesolithic period (Pal 2002, Sankalia et al. 1964). Death of an individual is a passionate observable fact of all life forms including human beings and is, therefore, well represented and the concept of life after death is apparent in many cultures. This is very well represented in ancient cultures like the Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Chinese cultures. In the Indian context there are references in ancient literature about death as only mode of transformation and not an end to the process of birth and death. The phenomenon of death is regarded only as the death of the body and not of the soul, which is believed to take new forms and continue in the cycle of life and death of the world. In the Bhagvad Gita’s Adhyaya 2 (Sloak no. 22) Krishna says ‘Vasamsi Jirnani Yatha Vihay Navani Gruhnani Naroparani Tatha Sharirani Vihay Jirnani Anyati Sanyati Navani Dehe’ which conceptually tells the same process. Hence in the subcontinent, most probably, we come across the concept of life after death in a more elaborate way. Also it can be safely said that the funerary customs have continued in the Indian subcontinent though not physically. The disposal of the dead is a very important rite in every society. It can be seen in various forms in all the cultures even today as it was seen in the past. It differs from community to community as the ideas and concepts change in terms of time, space and form. Even disposal of dead differs in the community with regards to age, sex, nature of death, economic conditions, strata of the society and changing concepts and ideologies of the society. It reflects the social and ideological background of the individual and the social group which is responsible for his particular position. In Indian context, death ritual and physical types are known from the Upper Palaeolithic period but they are well documented and known properly from the Mesolithic period onwards. The authors have made an attempt here to figure out if the Harappan burial tradition has in any way influenced the burial practices of the Early Iron Age period in peninsular India. It is first essential to briefly review the evidences earthed out pertaining to mortuary practices in both these cultural periods. Burial Practices in the Harappan Civilisation The Harappan civilization is one of the most advanced and complex civilizations of the ancient world. Among the sites, cemeteries are found at Harappa, Nal, Lothal, Kalibangan, Sanauli and Farmana. Mehrgarh At Mehrgarh, infant burials were found. 19 box‐like chambers made of mud‐bricks set on the edge of the site were found. The boxes were 60 cm in length, 45 cm wide and 15‐ 25 cm deep. Only one burial had an offering of two disc shaped beads in its neck. 245 ISSN 2347 – 5463 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 1: 2013 Burials of children around 3‐4 years of age were placed in flexed position in mud‐brick graves. In one of the clay box measuring 110 x 80 cm the skeleton was found lying on its right side in a flexed position oriented east‐west. The skeleton was associated with two plates, one below the hands and the other close to the arms and adorned with a necklace of white beads (probably steatite) alternating with carnelian and lapis lazuli beads and with bracelets of tiny white beads (probably steatite) around the wrists (Jarrige 1986, 1989). Kalibangan At Kalibangan burials were of various types and placed in different localities in the cemetery. In one instance, an oblong pit contained the body laid in extended position in north‐south orientation. Pots were kept around the skull region (fig. 1) and the pit was filled either with same earth or mixed with compact white speckled clay. There were pot burials in oval or circular pits. It contained an urn surrounded by several pots without any skeletal material or ash. These burials were located to north of extended burial area. Similarly, one other pit burial type was of rectangular or oblong grave devoid of any skeletal material. However, they contain typical Harappan pots in varying numbers, almost always lying at the bottom. Uniformly laid bands of fine sand, clay and watermarks on the bottom suggest that the pit was probably kept open for subsequent ritual purpose. In a single group, there are maximum ten burials, their number varying from group to group, but generally in the range of six to ten. Each group consists of at least one rectangular pot burial and mostly extended human burials. Each clan or families had different groups of burials probably allotted a particular area almost of the same size in the cemetery which were used by the member of that particular family only. One of the burials had different architectural features. It was a rectangular grave pit measuring 4 x 2 m and was lined on all four sides with typical Harappan mud bricks (fig. 2). The walls stood in conical fashion, with the inner space gradually widening towards bottom and the inner sides of the walls were plastered with mud and lime plaster. The pit contained more than 70 pots of various shapes and sizes may be of an important man. In one of the burials three disarticulated skulls and several other fragmentary bones were found, probably died in same time accidentally (Sharma 1972, 1982, 1999). Nal Two groups of burials were found during excavation, one group having a few bones in earthen vessels and the other group having fragments mixed with earth and kept in pots. Harappa Though some skeletons were found while excavating in the settlement area, it was the excavation at cemetery R37 and H at Harappa, provided evidence of burial customs of the period. The deceased were buried in pits of varied dimensions. Mostly the body was placed in an extended position, with head approximately towards the north. Grave‐pits varied in dimensions, ranging from 10 to 15 feet in length, 2 ½ to 10 feet in 246 Vaidya and Mallinathpur 2013: 244‐261 width, and dug to a depth of 2 to 3 feet from the surface. The pit was generally wider towards the head. This was probably to accommodate large number of pots offered as grave goods. They were mostly kept near the head but some also at the feet and a few along the sides and occasionally below the body. Most of the pottery types were similar to the findings from the habitation of the Mature Harappan phase. In some burials, besides human skeleton remains, a few decayed animal bones were also present. A small handled lamp was placed at the feet of the dead. At cemetery H were found jar burials and also earth burials. Along with these, fractional burials were also noticed.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 3-Art-Of-Indus-Valley.Pdf
    Harappan civilization 2 Architecture 2 Drainage System 3 The planning of the residential houses were also meticulous. 4 Town Planning 4 Urban Culture 4 Occupation 5 Export import product of 5 Clothing 5 Important centres 6 Religious beliefs 6 Script 7 Authority and governance 7 Technology 8 Architecture Of Indus Valley Civilisation 9 The GAP 9 ARTS OF THE INDUS VALLEY 11 Stone Statues 12 MALE TORSO 12 Bust of a bearded priest 13 Male Dancer 14 Bronze Casting 14 DANCING GIRL 15 BULL 16 Terracotta 16 MOTHER GODDESS 17 Seals 18 Pashupati Seal 19 Copper tablets 19 Bull Seal 20 Pottery 21 PAINTED EARTHEN JAR 22 Beads and Ornaments 22 Toy Animal with moveable head 24 Page !1 of !26 Harappan civilization India has a continuous history covering a very long period. Evidence of neolithic habitation dating as far back as 7000 BC has been found in Mehrgarh in Baluchistan. However, the first notable civilization flourished in India around 2700 BC in the north western part of the Indian subcontinent, covering a large area. The civilization is referred to as the Harappan civilization. Most of the sites of this civilization developed on the banks of Indus, Ghaggar and its tributaries. Architecture The excavations at Harappa and Mohenjodaro and several other sites of the Indus Valley Civilisation revealed the existence of a very modern urban civilisation with expert town planning and engineering skills. The very advanced drainage system along with well planned roads and houses show that a sophisticated and highly evolved culture existed in India before the coming of the Aryans.
    [Show full text]
  • Arts of the Indus Valley
    2 ARTS OF THE INDUS VALLEY HE arts of the Indus Valley Civilisation emerged during Tthe second half of the third millennium BCE. The forms of art found from various sites of the civilisation include sculptures, seals, pottery, jewellery, terracotta figures, etc. The artists of that time surely had fine artistic sensibilities and a vivid imagination. Their delineation of human and animal figures was highly realistic in nature, since the anatomical details included in them were unique, and, in the case of terracotta art, the modelling of animal figures was done in an extremely careful manner. The two major sites of the Indus Valley Civilisation, along the Indus river—the cities of Harappa in the north and Mohenjodaro in the south—showcase one of earliest examples of civic planning. Other markers were houses, markets, storage facilities, offices, public baths, etc., arranged in a grid-like pattern. There was also a highly developed drainage system. While Harappa and Mohenjodaro are situated in Pakistan, the important sites excavated in India are Lothal and Dholavira in Gujarat, Rakhigarhi in Haryana, Bust of a bearded priest Ropar in Punjab, Kalibangan in Rajasthan, etc. Stone Statues Statues whether in stone, bronze or terracotta found in Harappan sites are not abundant, but refined. The stone statuaries found at Harappa and Mohenjodaro are excellent examples of handling three-dimensional volumes. In stone are two male figures—one is a torso in red sandstone and the other is a bust of a bearded man in soapstone—which are extensively discussed. The figure of the bearded man, interpreted as a priest, is draped in a shawl coming under the right arm and covering the left shoulder.
    [Show full text]
  • Origin and Development of the Indus Script: Insights from Harappa and Other Sites, In: Lashari, K
    Kenoyer, J.M., 2020. The Origin and Development of the Indus Script: Insights from Harappa and other Sites, in: Lashari, K. (Ed.), Studies on Indus Script, National Fund for Mohenjodaro, Karachi, pp. 217-236. Origin and Development of the Indus Script: Insights from Harappa and other sites Jonathan Mark Kenoyer Origin and Development of the Indus Script: Insights from Harappa and other sites Introduction The origin of the Indus script has been a source of considerable discussion ever since the discovery and excavation of the Indus cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa in the 1920s to 1930s (Marshall 1931; Vats 1940). When the Indus civilization was discovered the only other early civilizations known to have writing in the Old World were the ancient Sumerians along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in southern Mesopotamia (Nissen 1993), the ancient Egyptians along the Nile (Baines 2004) and the ancient Chinese along the Huang He (Yellow) River in north central China (Haicheng 2015). The oracle bone inscriptions at the site of Yinxu in Anyang were being discovered around the same time that Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were being excavated (Bagley 1999, 127). Although at first some scholars thought that there might be some influence from Mesopotamian writing systems, in the first major report on the excavations at Mohenjo Daro in 1931, Gadd clearly states that there was no connection between the Indus script and the writing of Sumer or for that matter Egypt (Gadd 1931, 411). Surveys and test excavations in Baluchistan (Stein 1929; Hargreaves and Sewell 1929 (reprint 1981); Stein 1931) and Sindh (Majumdar 1934; Stein 1942) had recovered pottery that appeared to be older than that found at Mohenjo Daro, but little attention was paid to the presence of potter’s marks or graffiti on these different types of pottery.
    [Show full text]
  • Book Reviews
    BOOK REVIEWS Indian Beads: A Cultural aud Technological Study. Shantaram Bha1chandra Deo. Pune: Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, 2000. 205 pp., 7 color, 37 b/w plates, 3 maps, 24 figures, bibliography, no index. Paper 600 rupees. No ISBN. Distinctive Beads in Ancient India. Maurya Jyotsna. BAR International Series 864. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2000. 122 pp., 1 map, 10 figures, 7 tables, bibliography, index. Paper cover. ISBN 1-84171-067-9. Amulets and Pendants in Ancient Maharashtra. Maurya Jyotsna. New Delhi: D. K. Printworld, 2000. 102 pp., 4 maps, 12 figures, 3 tables, bibliography, index. Cloth 220 rupees. ISBN 81-246-0158-5. Reviewed by PETER FRANCIS JR. (1945-2003), former Director of the Centerfor Bead Research, Lake Placid, New York India is one of the world's largest countries rate with him on a book. That project with one of its most ancient civilizations. never happened, as Dikshit passed away in Blessed with immense natural and human 19(}9, just before his own History (?f Indian resources. It is no surprise that it is a lead­ Class was published. ing source of beads in both ancient and Deo received a fellowship from the In­ modern times. Only China is larger and as dian Council of Historical Research to ancient, but the Chinese have never been study and prepare a manuscript on Indian as interested in beads as have the Indians. beads during the years 1985 to 1988. He The Indian subcontinent has been unparal­ worked on the project for many years, long leled in terms of bead making, bead trad­ after the period of the fellowship.
    [Show full text]
  • Plenti Museum Guidebook
    PLENTI MUSEUM GUIDEBOOK Contents BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT ............................................................................................................................. 2 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................... 3 CHRONOLOGY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIAN PRE-HISTORY ........................................................................... 6 STONE TOOL GALLERY............................................................................................................................................ 7 THE STORY OF MINIATURE GALLERY .................................................................................................................... 15 OPEN AIR GALLERY .............................................................................................................................................. 23 ANNEXURE: STONE TOOL TECHNOLOGY ............................................................ ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT The museum is an ode to our vast pre historic past. It covers an unimaginable expanse of more than two million years, includes many of our cousin species, and goes all the way up to a few thousand years ago, and India’s first great ancient civilization. The museum is a short and immersive ride, that presents the information in an easy to digest fashion, and links what you read to what you see for a complete experience. The project was conceptualized
    [Show full text]
  • Sculptures-Indus Period
    UNITl SCULPTURES-INDUS PERIOD Structure 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Objectives 1.3 The Indus Valley Civilization - Background 1.4 Sculptural Art Engraving - Seals Rounded Sculptures 1.5 Stylistic Features 1.6 Representational Examples 1.7 Summary 1.8 Self-Assessment Questions 1.9 Terminal Questions. 1.10 Answers to Terminal Questions 1.1 INTRODUCTION In the previous unit you have studied the different techniques followed by Indian sculptors during historical times. In every period the sculptures are created in different styles. This shows the artistic achievements of the respective period. In this unit we shall discuss the sculpture as developed in the Indus Valley civilization. 1.2 OBJECTIVES After reading this unit you will be able to: • describe the Indus civilization and the sculptures of the period; • discuss about the subjects chosen for sculptures; • explain the types of sculptures; and • discuss about the trends and approaches in sculpture of Indus period. 1.3 INDUS VALLEYCIVILIZATION -BACKGROUND The Indus Valley civilization, which flourished from 3000 BC, marked the beginning of a great civilization in the sub-continent. It was situated on the banks of the Indus and Saraswati rivers and their tributaries initially. Later it extended into Ganges- Yamuna Doab region and also into Afghanistan. Among the settlements were the major urban centres ofHarappa and Mohenjodaro located in Pakistan, Lothal, Rangpur, Surkothada, Kalibangan, Rakhigarhi, Dholavira, Daimabad, Kunal and many other places located .in India. The famous archaeologists who have discovered many of these sites and conducting research on various aspects are John Marshcll, a.B.Lal, S.R.Rao, Bhist, and others.
    [Show full text]
  • Kalibangan : Death from Natural Causes
    ANTIQUITY, XLII, 1968 Kalibangan : Death from Natural Causes by ROBERT RAIKES Mr R. L. Raikes is a hydrologist who is head of the firm of Raikes and Partners, consulting engineers in Rome. We recently published an article by him on ‘The Mohenjo-daro Floods’ (ANTIQUITY, 1965, 196), in which he concluded that Mohmjo-daro and ‘inevitably all other sites in the same general area of the Indus jlood-plain, were gradually engulfed by mud’. This article provoked discussion and comment in subsequent numbers. Mr Raikes now considers the end of Kalibangan some time in the 18thcentury BC and excludes the hypothesis of catastrophic climate change. As he has recently been accused of being a prophet of the New Catastrophism, he says that here it is rather a relief to him to be able, with conviction, to exclude catastrophic climate change. ALIBANGAN, which has been ex- Sind and the central Punjab-Mohenjo-daro, K cavated during recent years-and is still Harappa, Chanhu-daro, Judeir-jo daro, being excavated at the time of writing-by the Lohumjo-daro, to name but a few-may be of Archaeological Survey of India, is one of the significance. For, whereas the other ‘cities’ more important sites of the Harappan Civiliza- named were constructed largely of burnt brick, tion in India (FIG. I). Interim reports on it have Kalibangan was mainly of mud-brick construc- been published in Indian Archaeology. The tion. Some use of burnt brick there certainly subject of this short paper will in due course be was but the comparative rarity of it suggests the published in full, with the necessary technical possibility that the means of producing large details, in Ancient India.
    [Show full text]
  • Kalibangan (Pre – Harappan Settlement)
    Kalibangan (Pre – Harappan Settlement) Dr. Dilip Kumar Assistant Professor (Guest) Dept. of Ancient Indian History & Archaeology, Patna University, Patna Paper – CC-XI, Sem. – III Kalibangan is a town located at 29.47°N 74.13°E on the left or southern banks of the Ghaggar (Ghaggar - Hakra River) in Rajasthan. The Kalibangan pre-historic site was discovered by Luigi Pio Tessitori, an Italian Indologists (1887–1919). He was doing some research in ancient Indian texts and was surprised by the character of ruins in that area. He sought help from Sir John Marshall of the Archaeological Survey of India. At that time the ASI was conducting excavations at Harappa, but they were unaware of the significance of the ruins. In fact, Tessitori was the first person to recognize that the ruins were 'Prehistoric' and pre-Mauryan. Luigi Pio Tessitori also pointed out the nature of the culture, but at that time it was not possible to guess that the ruins of Kalibangan lay within the Indus Valley Civilization. He died five years before the Harappan culture was formally recognized. After India's independence, both the major Harappan cities together with the Indus became a part of Pakistan and Indian archaeologists were compelled to intensify the search for Harappan sites in India. Amlanand Ghosh (Ex. Director General, Archaeological Survey of India, or ASI) was the first person to recognise this site as Harappan and marked it out for excavations. Under the leadership of B. B. Lal (then Director General, ASI), Balkrishna (B.K.) Thapar, M. D. Khare, K. M. Shrivastava and S.
    [Show full text]
  • Mehrgarh Neolithic
    Paper presented in the International Seminar on the "First Farmers in Global Perspective', Lucknow, India, 18-20 January, 2006 Mehrgarh Neolithic Jean-Fran¸ois Jarrige From 1975 to 1985, the French Archaeological had already provided a summary of the main results Mission, in collaboration with the Department of brought by the excavations conducted from 1977 Archaeology of Pakistan, has conducted excavations to 1985 in the Neolithic sector of Mehrgarh. in a wide archaeological area near to the modern From 1985 to 1996, the excavations at Mehrgarh village of Mehrgarh in Balochistan at the foot of the were stopped and the French Mission undertook the Bolan Pass, one of the major communication routes excavation of a mound close to the village of between the Iranian Plateau, Central Asia and the Nausharo, 6 miles South of Mehrgarh. This excavation Indus Valley. showed clearly that the mound of Nausharo had Mehrgarh is located in the Bolan Basin, in the north- been occupied from 3000 to 2000 BC. After a western part of the Kachi-Bolan plain, a great alluvial Period I contemporary with Mehrgarh VI and VII, expanse that merges with the Indus Valley (Fig. 1). Periods II and III (c. 2500 to 2000 BC) at Nausharo The site itself is a vast area of about 300 hectares belong to the Indus (or Harappan) civilisation. covered with archaeological remains left by a Therefore the excavations at Nausharo allowed us to continuous sequence of occupations from the 8th to link in the Kachi-Bolan region, the Indus civilisation the 3rd millennium BC. to a continuous sequence of occupations starting from the aceramic Neolithic period.
    [Show full text]
  • Megalithic Pochampad: the Skeletal Biology and Archaeological Context Ofan Iron Age Site in Andhra Pradesh) India
    Megalithic Pochampad: The Skeletal Biology and Archaeological Context ofan Iron Age Site in Andhra Pradesh) India KENNETH A. R. KENNEDY IRON TECHNOLOGY EMERGED IN SOUTH ASIA from regional Copper Age (Chalcolithic) and Bronze Age (Harappan) traditions by 1000 B.C., replacing the dominance of these earlier metallurgical industries at different times prior to the dawn of the Early Historic period (Nagaraja Rao 1971, 1981). Marking the final "Age" of Indian prehistory, iron is uncovered in the archaeological assemblages of the Gandharan Grave Culture of northern Pakistan (1000-300 B.C.), at Pirak and other sites on the Kachi Plain of Pakistan's Indus Valley (by 900 B.C.), with the Painted Grey Ware cultural tradition extending from Baluchistan in western Pakistan to Uttar Pradesh in northern India (900-300 B.C.), and with the "mega­ lithic complex" that spread from the Himalaya foothills southward to penin­ sular India and Sri Lanka from the early second millennium B.C. in Kashmir to c. A.D. 50 in south India (Agrawal 2000; Chakrabarti 1992; Deo 1985; Kennedy 2000a:326-357, 2000c; Leshnik 1974; Possehl and Rissman 1992; Possehl and Gullapalli 1999) (Fig. 1). Megaliths are stone monuments visible on the landscape as alignments of standing stones, single stone slabs supported by several boulders to form an enclosed space (dolmens, dolmenoid cists), single or grouped upright standing stones (menhirs), arrangements of large boulders in a circle, and cairns of heaped rubble (Fig. 2). Some above-ground or shallowly buried dolmenoid cists had "port holes" or passages allowing for access of grave goods, food, or additional skeletal remains into the burial chamber.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Book
    EXCAVATIONS AT RAKHIGARHI [1997-98 to 1999-2000] Dr. Amarendra Nath Archaeological Survey of India 1 DR. AMARENDRA NATH RAKHIGARHI EXCAVATION Former Director (Archaeology) ASI Report Writing Unit O/o Superintending Archaeologist ASI, Excavation Branch-II, Purana Qila, New Delhi, 110001 Dear Dr. Tewari, Date: 31.12.2014 Please refer to your D.O. No. 24/1/2014-EE Dated 5th June, 2014 regarding report writing on the excavations at Rakhigarhi. As desired, I am enclosing a draft report on the excavations at Rakhigarhi drawn on the lines of the “Wheeler Committee Report-1965”. The report highlights the facts of excavations, its objective, the site and its environment, site catchment analysis, cultural stratigraphy, structural remains, burials, graffiti, ceramics, terracotta, copper, other finds with two appendices. I am aware of the fact that the report under submission is incomplete in its presentation in terms modern inputs required in an archaeological report. You may be aware of the fact that the ground staff available to this section is too meagre to cope up the work of report writing. The services of only one semiskilled casual labour engaged to this section has been withdrawn vide F. No. 9/66/2014-15/EB-II496 Dated 01.12.2014. The Assistant Archaeologist who is holding the charge antiquities and records of Rakhigarhi is available only when he is free from his office duty in the Branch. The services of a darftsman accorded to this unit are hardly available. Under the circumstances it is requested to restore the services of one semiskilled casual labour earlier attached to this unit and draftsman of the Excavation Branch II Purana Quila so as to enable the unit to function smoothly with limited hands and achieve the target.
    [Show full text]
  • Methods and Problems in the Site Census Approach: a View from Mewar Through Archaeology and Ethnohistory
    Methods and Problems in the Site Census Approach: A View from Mewar through Archaeology and Ethnohistory Namita Sugandhi1, Teresa P. Raczek2, Prabodh Shirvalkar3, Charles K. Brummeler2 and Lalit Pandey4 1. Hartwick College, One Hartwick Drive, Oneonta, NY 13820, USA (Email: [email protected]) 2. Kennesaw State University, 402 Bartow Ave, Kennesaw, GA 30144, USA (Email: [email protected]; [email protected]) 3. Deccan College Post‐graduate and Research Institute, Yerwada, Pune –411006, Maharashtra, India (Email: [email protected]) 4. J.R.N. Rajasthan Vidyapeeth University, Pratap Nagar, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India (Email: [email protected]) Received: 30October 2015; Accepted: 08November 2015; Revised: 22 November 2015 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 3 (2015): 163‐179 Abstract: The practice of conducting a regional census has some similarities but many differences from systematic archaeological survey. Both attempt to study “sites”, or material traces of human activities in the past, but the idea of an archaeological “census” utilizes a more informal approach to visiting sites that have been previously documented by earlier researchers. Archaeological census has the goal of assessing site destruction, degradation, and various issues associated with heritage management. The method can provide valuable data about the current status of sites and serve as an expedient tool for future research planning as well as in the development of community and cultural resource management strategies. In this paper, we present census details from a multi‐year project conducted in the Mewar Plain of Rajasthan, outlining our methods and the various conditions that shaped our approach and results, emphasizing in particular the role of ethnohistory.
    [Show full text]