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Early farming communities of Central India- Neolithic remains of Belan valley.pptx
1. Early farming communities of Central India:
Neolithic remains of Belan valley, Vindhyan foot-
hills
Dr. Virag Sontakke
Assistant Professor
A.I.H.C. & Archaeology
Banaras Hindu University
2. Early farming
communities of Central
India: Neolithic remains
of Belan valley,
Vidnhyan foot-hills and
Ganga plains
3. Neolithic Period
• Last stage of the stone age/Paleolithic
• Advanced change in human development
• The period of food producing
• Large-scale domestication of animals
• Consumption of flora (plant food)
• Stone tools: Polished stone axes, Adze, hammer
stones, anvils, querns and mullers
4. Neolithic
1. Cultivated crops and domesticated animals.
2. Established permanent settlements,
3. Agriculture was discovered in the Neolithic period.
4. They raised goats, sheep and oxen for their meat and other
products and uses.
5. Pottery was used for food storage.
6. People started to live in villages during the Neolithic period.
7. People started to make cloth with simple looms; bake clay
into pottery; fish with nets, and raise animals and crops.
8. Time: 10000-2000 BCE
8. Vindhyan Neolithic
• Vindhyan Neolithic is characterized by
1. Sedentism,
2. Characteristic pottery,
3. Rounded polished stone objects,
4. Bone tools,
5. Chert blades, Scrappers
6. An economy based on domesticated cattle and rice
agriculture
14. Koldihwa
• Location: 80 km N-E from
Prayagraj
• Situation: on the left bank of
Belan
• Habitation Remains: Mound
(500 x 200 m.)
• Excavation: G.R. Sharma
• Culture sequence:
I. Neolithic
II. Chalcolithic
19. An example of ringstone
reuse; the ringstone is tied
around the neck of a sick
cow (photograph by S.
Bhattacharya)
20. • Hand made
• Red ware, black and red ware
• Corded and incised ware
• Thick fabric
• Ill fired
• Shape: Bowls and vases,
• Bowls: shallow, deep, straight and lipped
• Vase: pot, storage jar, a vessel with tubular spout
• Cord impression = tortoise shell?
Koldihwa: Pottery
24. • No proper evidence due to small excavations
• Evidence: burnt clay impressions
• Wattle-and-daub impressions
• Thatched huts, made of bamboo and mud-
plastered walls
Koldihwa: Residing structures
27. Koldihwa: Food habits
• Exploited flora and fauna
• Remains of Rice
• Evidence of domesticated
Rice
• Wild grains: millets
• Objects: Querns and Mullers
• A large number of
domesticated animal bones
• A few wild too
• Numbers: 95
i. Cattles
ii. Sheep/goat
iii. Deer
iv. Horse
v. Tortoise
vi. Wild boar
vii. fish
28. Mahagara
• Location: just apposite
Koldiwha, 80 km from
Prayagraj
• Situation: on the bank of
Belan
• Excavated: G.R. Sharma,
Allahabad University
• Year: 1976-79
• Culture sequence: Neolithic
29. Mahagara: Tool Assemblages
• Rounded celts
• More microliths: blades, lunates, scrapers, borers,
tringles, trapeze
• Bone arrowheads
• Household objects: querns, mullers, hammers,
sling-balls. Ring stones
• Terracotta bead and perforated pottery discs
31. • Four types of pottery
1. Cord impressed
2. Rusticated
3. Burnished red
4. Burnished black
• Pottery mixed with rice and
grains
• Charred conditions
Mahagara: Pottery
32. • Lived in huts
• Evidence: 18 huts
• Plan: circular, oval
• Size: 6.70 x 6.25 m.; 5.0 x 3.50 m.
• Wattle-and-daub houses
• Mud plasters on the walls
• Floors were not rammed or plastered
Mahagara: Residing place
33. Mahagara: Food habit
• Too many animal bones
• 151 animal bones
i. Cattles
ii. Sheep/goat
iii. Deer
iv. Antelope
v. Horse
vi. Tortoise
vii. Wild boar
viii. Fish
• Cattle bones were mostly
domesticated
• Followed by Sheep/goat
• Horse: pony?
• Antelope: used for antlers
34. Tokwa
• Location: Mirjhapur, 68 km from the district head.
• Situated: Confluence of the Belan and Adwa rivers
• Discovered in: Colonial period
• Re-explore: 1999
• Excavations: 2000, 2002
• Director: Mishra
• Culture sequence:
1. Neolithic,
2. Chalcolithic and
3. Iron Age
35.
36. • Hand made
a) Cord impressed
b) Rusticated
c) Burnished red
d) Burnished black
Tokwa: Pottery
37. Tokwa: Material remains
• Bone Arrowhead
• Semi-precious stone beads
• Terracotta beads
• Querns
• Mullers
• Microliths
38. Tokwa: Food habits
• Plant exploitation
a) Rice
b) Barley
c) Til
d) Moong
e) Fruits
f) beans
• Consumption of Animal Bones
• Wild and domesticated
• Numbers: 235
• Domesticated:
i. Cattle
ii. Sheep/goat
• Wild:
a) Gaur
b) Nilgai
c) Back-buck
d) Birds
e) Fish
f) Single molluscan species
39. 14C radiocarbon dates of charcoal
samples from Tokwa
Calibrated date (BCE)
1. 1685–1464
2. 5976–5561
3. 1860–1622
40. Agiabir
• The multi-culture site of Agiabir
located on the left bank of river
Ganga
• In district Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh
• The site was first excavated for
three field seasons between 1999
and 2001
• Again in 2005-07 for two field
seasons
• In 2016 (Neolithic Period) deposit
(50 cm) has been was found from
Trench 14, Trench 16 and Trench 21.
• Director: Dr. A.K. Singh
• Agency: BHU
45. Pachoh
• Location: in Allahabad district
• Situated: on the right bank of Belan
• Excavator: G.R. Sharma, University of Allahabad
• Year: 1975-76
• Site: Disturbed nature