Bhubaneswar: Officials of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have traced the remnants of a 4,000 year old civilisation in the Prachi River valley under Niali tehsil of Cuttack district.
ASI officials have found several bone-made arrows and spears from Bharatihuda, a mound, on the bank of Prachi River at Jalarpur, around 4 km from the Niali tehsil office, during a recent excavation. The excavators have also traced a stone-made axe, bones of tortoises, birds and fish as well as fragments of earthen pots from the mound, ASI sources said.
This is the second time when excavators have unearthed bone-made weapons from Orissa. The ASI officials had found several bone-made weapons during an excavation at Golabaisasan near Khurda in the 1990s. “Now, we can say that Orissa had a copper-stone age civilisation. The civilisation flourished on the banks of Prachi River. In those times, people were mainly dependent on hunting and cultivation for food,” said ASI superintending archaeologist DB Gadnayak.
ASI officials claimed that people in the Prachi valley civilisation possessed expertise in weapon making. The excavators have also unearthed several finished and semi-finished bone-made spears from Bharatihuda. “We are expecting to collect more information regarding the 4,000-year-old civilisation during further excavation,” Gadnayak added.
The ASI had come to know about the remnants of a copper-age civilisation on the Prachi River valley near Niali in May last year.
Before that, researchers claimed the existence of a medieval civilisation near Prachi River. “The recent excavations near Niali have refuted the popular view that Prachi River valley had a flourishing medieval civilisation. We hope that further excavation in the locality will throw light on the tradition, culture and other aspects of the ancient civilisation,” said a researcher. PNN
