Bagor, Phase I
The site of Bagor, excavated principally in 1968–70, lies on top of a prominent sand dune about 25 km west of the town of Bhilwara in Rajasthan and overlooks the Kothari river which retains water only during the monsoon. Though there are fertile stretches along the river depressions, basically it is a dry country (60–75 cm of annual rainfall) with widespread rocky outcrops. The excavated trenches on top of the dune could not establish any profile of layers, but three phases of occupation have been determined on the basis of cultural materials: exclusively microliths in phase 1, the presence of copper with microliths in phase 2, and the presence of iron with microliths in phase 3. Phases 2 and 3 do not concern us here. Slabs of schist quarried from across the river were used to make large floors in phase 1, and in places there were roughly circular (3–5 m in diameter) alignments of stone which possibly marked the outer periphery of wind-breaks or flimsy huts. If these floors and outlines of wind-breaks marked the habitations, small areas (40–70 cm across) which were found to have been paved tightly with small stones and associated with concentrations of animal bones could have marked butchering spots. The lone burial site found in this phase yielded an extended skeleton with the lower part of its left arm resting on the body. There is no positive evidence of grave goods, but the excavator suggests that the few pieces of bone found in the vicinity may be associated with the burial, and if so, a few chunks of meat were placed with the dead. Out of the ‘several hundred thousand worked pieces’ of microliths found continuously through the three phases of Bagor, the ‘greatest density’ (45–55 per cent of the excavated material) is found in phase 1. The microlithic industry, which comprises shapes like triangles and trapezes and is thus of ‘geometric’ type, was based on ‘the mass-production of micro-blades and their conversion into various microlithic forms’. Quartz and chert, both available locally, were the predominantly used raw materials. Isolated and small bits of pottery (1–2 cm in size) have been found associated with microliths but one cannot be sure if these bits formed original associations and are not later intrusions. At the same time, the possibility of original association cannot be denied either. A few short, tubular and barrel-shaped beads made of banded agate, carnelian and garnet have been reported from phase 1, but again, doubts have been expressed about their original association. In the same context a few tiny bone beads have been reported too. Spherical stones which bear clear marks of being used could act as hammerstones in the manufacture of microliths, and pieces of red ochre suggest an awareness of colour. Fragments of shallow querns and rubbing stones have also been found, suggesting that the use of plants and seeds was known, although possibly of the wild variety. The density of excavated animal bones is highest in phase 1 and shows domesticated sheep/goat and cattle, along with wild cattle, two types of deer, pig, jackal, rat, monitor lizard, river turtle and fish, in the same phase.
There is an extensive distribution of microlithic scatters in the Mewar plain of Rajasthan, and the excavations at Bagor have indicated the possible way of life behind them in the sixth millennium BC and later.
Adamgarh
The Adamgarh hill, about 2 km south of the Narmada at Hoshangabad, has naturally formed rock-shelters and a thick forest. The deposits associated with a rock-shelter were excavated in 1961, leading, among other things, to the identification of microlith-bearing layers in the upper part of these deposits. There is no secure internal stratigraphy of the microlith-bearing level, but ‘a detailed analysis of tools obtained from the successive levels’ of nearly 1–3 m deposit indicates, according to the excavator, that ‘the earlier microliths belong to the Mesolithic stage and the later ones show Neolithic–Chalcolithic affinities’. In view of the sixth millennium BC date from the earlier level and a second millennium BC date from the upper level which is also associated with neolithic–chalcolithic pottery, this is a logical hypothesis. As at Bagor, microliths are abundant at Adamgarh: 5000 tools and 250 kg of waste chips were found in one trench alone. The raw materials are mostly chert, chalcedony, jasper and agate and come from the nearby river-bed where chunks of these stones are available. Triangles and trapezes occur among more common tool-types of points, blades, awls, scrapers, burins, etc. and thus the microlithic industry has to be called ‘geometric’. The animal bones found in the earlier level denote the presence of domesticated cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, pig and dog. The wild varieties comprise hare, lizard, porcupine, horse or donkey and several types of deer.
Baghor II
This site is near Maraoli village in Sidhi district, Madhya Pradesh, in the Son valley. Of the six layers excavated here in 1980, only the layer below the surface soil yielded microliths, and there is evidence to suggest that the nodules of chert and chalcedony, which were used as raw materials for tools, were first heated for easy flaking. The overwhelming predominance of waste material (96.7 per cent of the total lithic material excavated) has made the excavators wonder if the finished tools prepared here were not used and discarded elsewhere. The finished tools include, although rarely, triangles and trapezes. Fragments of grinding stones are parts of the as semblage and there is at least one hammerstone. A few small circular pieces of stone, chipped around the circumference, could have been used as playthings by children. There are also a few pieces of haematite and ochre with rubbed off surface. One of the most important features of the site is the occurrence of post-holes (c. 15 cm in diameter), indicating the use of large sturdy posts to construct shelters which were possibly large, at least partially open, semi-permanent wind-breaks or sun-shades. Five or six such standardized shelters have been traced. Tabular pieces of stone (generally smaller than 10 cm across) could have been used as paving stones or more likely as sleeping or storage platforms, head-rests or hearths similar to those of the modern Sefar community pastoralists who visit the Son valley in winter. The processing of plant food is suggested by grinding stones. Particles of burnt clay and charcoal have been found. Three hoof marks left behind in the excavated soil at the site by a Sambar deer introduce us directly to the image of a Sambar walking through this transitory settlement of the seventh to eighth millennium BC.
The Excavated Sites in Uttar Pradesh: Chopani Mando, Sarai Nahar Rai, Mahadaha and Damdama
Of all these sites only Sarai Nahar Rai possesses a radiocarbon date which can be used to date this site: 8400 ± 150 BC (calibrated range c. 9000 BC and earlier). A second date from the site is plainly contradictory: around 1000 BC or a little earlier. The earliest of the three old radiocarbon dates from Mahadaha is in the calibrated range of 2853–2347 BC. One of these dates, in fact, shows a much lower range of 1405–803 BC (calibrated). There is no radiocarbon date from Damdama and Chopani Mando. In fact, this is a situation where we have to justify the inclusion of these sites in the category of the early mesolithic in the Indian context.
The archaeological evidence itself does not suggest a late date. At Chopani Mando in the Belan valley, for instance, the excavations have shown a sequence from the ‘epi-palaeolithic’ to the ‘advanced mesolithic or proto-neolithic’, and considering that the transition from the upper palaeolithic to the mesolithic has been traced in this region around 9000 BC in the cemented gravel IV of Mahagara, one would be justified in treating the Chopani Mando evidence as early mesolithic. The Chopani Mando evidence affects the evidence from the Ganga plain sites of Sarai Nahar Rai, Mahadaha and Damdama, because the Belan valley mesolithic sites and the Ganga plain mesolithic sites have to be related, since for the sites in this part of the Ganga plain, access to the lithic raw materials was possible directly only through the Belan valley. There is also a piece of direct evidence in the form of a recently done radiocarbon date from Mahadaha, which puts the site in the sixth millennium BC. Further, the early focus of thermoluminescent dates from Damdama is said to be around 5000 BC. Besides, when we consider the density of mesolithic occupational sites in this region (more than 200 such sites in the Ganga plain alone—Pratapgarh, Allahabad, Varanasi and Jaunpur districts, with overwhelming emphasis on Pratapgarh), we have to admit that the chronological span involved is likely to be wide. On the whole, we find no reason why its beginning cannot be as early as 9000+ BC as suggested by a radiocarbon date from Sarai Nahar Rai.
Fig. 9 General distribution of mesolithic sites in Uttar Pradesh (Chattopadhyay, 1996)
Chopani Mando: About 77 km west–south-west of Allahabad, this site in the Belan flood plain revealed a total occupational deposit of 1.55 m divided into three phases. Phase 1 is called epi-palaeolithic, i.e. the stone tools of this phase are smaller than those of the upper palaeolithic but larger than those of the succeeding mesolithic (non-geometric) phase 2A. In addition to a predominantly chert-based industry of blades, borers, scrapers, points, etc. phase 2A showed the ground plans of two circular huts. The next sub-phase, phase 2B, showed a geometric microlithic industry and the ground plans of five circular huts. Period 3 has fragile handmade pottery, a continuing microlithic industry, anvils and hammer-stones, querns, mullers and ring-stones, burnt clay lumps with reed marks, animal bones, thirteen circular and oval huts, and four hearths. A fully exposed hut of phase 2A is 3.80 m in diameter, with twelve post-holes of 10–20 cm diameter, around the periphery. Stone fragments are observed around the periphery of phase 2B huts which also contain on their floors stone fragments, microliths, small pieces of bone and burnt clay lumps bearing impressions of reed. The average diameter of the circular huts exposed in phase 3 is 3.3 m, whereas the oval ones measure on an average 4.7 m by 3.3 m. Their floors are littered with stone fragments, microliths, hammer-stones and anvils, sling-stones, flat querns and mullers, burnt clay lumps and handmade, fragile pottery. Large rock fragments are noticed at the edges of the huts in some cases. The excavated hearths have all been found outside the huts and contain loose ashy soil. Outside the huts but quite close to them the excavators found traces of what they inferred to be ‘the bases of storage bins made of bamboo and clay’. The excavators further point out that the huts of phase 3 ‘are so closely situated to each other that they almost look like a bee-hive’. Wild cattle and sheep/goat have been identified among the bones of Phase 3 and charred rice is found embedded in the burnt clay lumps of this phase. Bamboo occurs either as charcoal or as impressions on burnt clay lumps. On the whole, the excavators date the site from the seventeenth millennium to the seventh millennium BC. Whether one can fully support this chronology or not, one can certainly agree with their opinion that the Chopani Mando evidence suggests ‘a transition from hunting-gathering to settled mode of life, possibly with incipient agriculture’.
Fig. 10 A section of the excavated huts, Chopani Mando (Sharma et al., 1980)
Sarai Nahar Rai: This she, 15 km south-west of Pratapgarh, covers c. 1800 sq. m on the bank of a dried ox-bow lake representing a part of an old bed of the river Ganga which now flows about 55 km south. Such lakes are common in the Uttar Pradesh countryside. Some of them retain monsoonal water throughout the year while others dry up in winter. In each case, however, they help irrigation, yield fish and provide rich fodder for the local cattle. In the winter months they are also the breeding ground of migratory birds. At Sarai Nahar Rai a geometric microlithic industry was found accompanied by a profusion of bison bones, rhinoceros, stag, fish, tortoise, shells and 11 human burials with 14 individuals. Burials are within the habitation area and this is clear from the traces of hearths, floors and post-holed enclosures that have also been found in the same area. Among the graves, the remains of four persons were found in one. The graves are oblong pits where loose soil was spread as a cushion before placing the dead body. The bodies lay extended in a west-east orientation (i.e. the head was placed in the west), with the right/left hand placed across the abdomen (the right hand in the case of the male and the left in the case of the female). Microliths and shells were put inside as grave goods. A microlithic arrowhead was found inside the rib-bones of a skeleton (excavation number 1972–X), indicating that the arrowhead was the cause of his death. The skeletal series showed considerable fossilization and the remains of nine males, four females and a child. For the males the age-range is 16 to 34 years and for the females 15 to 35 years. Some of them were afflicted with osteoarthritis but there is an absence of dental problems, which perhaps has something to do with the absence of finely processed food. The height is 173.93 cm to 192.08 cm in the case of the males and 174.89 cm to 187.68 cm in the case of the females. They had large and robust skulls.
Mahadaha: The main area of this settlement, also on the bank of a dried-up ox-bow lake, measures 2400 sq m and the excavators demarcate three distinct areas here: the habitation-cum-burial area, the butchering area and the lake area. The 60 cm thick occupational deposit yielded 28 burials in four phases, with two cases of male–female double burials. In one case the female was placed above the male, and in another they lay side by side. Among the total of 30 individuals, 17 could be identified as males, seven as females and three as children. The grave pits are elliptical and slightly sloping, with a deliberately placed cushion of loose soil in some cases. The general orientation of the bodies is west–east; the grave goods include bone ornaments (inclusive of a necklace and a pendant), burnt fragments of animal bones, microliths, bone arrowheads and shells. The butchering area showed the remains of wild cattle, hippopotamus, varieties of deer, pig and turtle. Thousands of animal bones have been found in the lake area. The microliths are made of chert, chalcedony, quartz, crystal, agate and carnelian which were all brought from a distance of about 70–100 km in the Vindhyas. As at Sarai Nahar Rai, the people were tall (up to 190 cm in the case of the males and 162–176 cm in the case of the females). The most important disease noted is osteoarthritis, and the degree of dental attrition suggests a very abrasive diet, consistent with a hunting-foraging life. Only in one case a skeleton (a female) was found to belong to the age range of 40–50 years. Five of them died before they were 18 years of age. Six others belonged to the age range of 18–40.
Fig. 11 Mahadaha excavations (Sharma et al., 1980)
Damdama: This site is not on the bank of an ox-bow lake but on a stretch of high ground at the confluence of the two branches of a small stream within the drainage system of the Sai river. Its 1.5 m thick occupational deposit showed both plastered and plain hearths, burnt patches of plastered floors, microliths, bone objects, querns, mullers, anvils and hammer-stones, burnt clay lumps, charred wild grains, animal bones and 41 human graves. Of the four cases of double burials, two showed male–female burials but in one case there were three persons—two males and one female, while in the fourth one two males were put together. The report on the Damdama skeletal series has not been published as yet but 46 individuals have been identified, among which it was possible to identify 24 males and 17 females. While the bodies were generally put in extended positions, some were in a prone or lateral position.
Overview: Along with Chopani Mando, the excavated sites of Sarai Nahar Rai, Mahadaha and Damdama present a very distinct picture of mesolithic life in the Ganga plain. It is not that we should expect such sites of this region only on the banks of the dried-up ox-bow lakes; both Chopani Mando and Damdama represent different locations. What separates Chopani Mando in the higher grounds of the Belan valley from the sites in Pratapgarh and the contiguous area is the distance of the latter from the raw materials needed for the manufacture of microliths. Although Umesh Chattopadhyay’s estimated distance of about 160 km is more than we are willing to accept, a distance of more than 75 km cannot be doubted under any circumstances. As far as the raw materials are concerned, the Ganga plain sites were certainly within a distribution network. The Ganga plain sites also show a clearly expressed preference for a concentration of usable natural resources: the aquatic resources of a plain of numerous water-courses and dried up meander channels. There is no reason to believe that they were seasonal camps of people coming down from the Vindhyan fringes. Jagannath Pal mentions lustrous and glossy surfaces of querns and mullers, which indicates the crushing of plant food. According to Pal again, ‘the majority of the hearths were used for roasting game, including birds and fish’. A bison’s skull was found charred in a hearth at Mahadaha where ‘roasted food was probably placed on circular platforms, plastered and burnt, which were found near the hearths.’ On the basis of the age determination of the butchered specimens of hog deer and swamp deer Chattopadhyay inferred site occupation in both winter and summer. Moreover, the presence of bandicoot rat at both Mahadaha and Damdama has been taken to suggest year-round rather than seasonal occupations at these sites. After a study of the orientations of the excavated graves (76 in all, out of which the orientations of 55 examples could be measured in relation to the directions of sunrise and sunset, the probable basis of the orientation of these graves) in relation to azimuth, Chattopadhyay deduced a year-long burial activity. The mortuaries possibly represented groups of hunters and foragers bound by a lineage and trying to lay claims to a certain territory through the location of their mortuaries. Further, Chattopadhyay notes that ‘the skeletal remains, more directly associated with meat, are heavily under-represented.’ He suggests that meat was perhaps produced in excess of the direct requirements of the community and could be used as an item of exchange to acquire the much-needed stone for implements. Further, as Radha Kant Varma points out, the meticulousness with which the bodies were laid in graves ‘represents the performance of ritual beliefs on a group level’. In the course of the excavations at Damdama it was realized that ‘some sort of fire ritual was performed in the grave itself just before burying the dead.’ Whether the joint burials of a male and a female in a few graves suggest a family group or not cannot perhaps be settled at present, but the fact that some burials at Mahadaha and Damdama bear skeletons with personal ornaments (cf. a carved ivory pendant in a grave at Damdama) seem to indicate a kind of social status. The orientation of the bodies was principally west-east but east-west examples are also known. Another interesting feature is the discovery of a large number of ochre pieces in the excavated layers.
Paisra
Paisra in the Kharagpur range near Munger in Bihar has revealed unmistakable evidence of mesolithic habitation in its Locality F where the occupational remains are found 65–90 cm below the surface. About 105 sq m of this floor has been exposed in the excavations. There are traces of ‘numerous big and small fire places only a few metres from each other’ on this floor. The excavators deduced three modes of lighting fire: burning of dry wood on the floor; fire around and above wet lumps of clay; and fire in pits. Only 26 finished tools were found on this floor: one was a micro-gravette point and the rest comprised lunates, side-scrapers and backed blades. The raw material, i.e. stone, was probably heated before flaking. The excavators conclude that the extremely thin layer of mesolithic habitation at Paisra suggests that people did not live at this place for a long time. No organic remains have been reported. However, this seventh millennium BC site provides the only evidence of an early mesolithic habitation in the whole of eastern India.