Monalisa Patsani, OP
Bhubaneswar, May 24: In a major archeological breakthrough, a new Chalcolithic site has been unearthed at Badajallarpur in Niali Tehsil area of Cuttack district. The excavation branch-IV of Archeological Survey of India (ASI) has discovered the prehistoric mound in the Prachi valley in the region during the course of exploration.
A team of archeologists comprising Sanjay Panda, Ashis Ranjan Sahoo, Umakanta Bhoi, Sukanta Bodu, Pankaj Chotai and Hari Krishna Behera headed by superintending archeologist Dibishada B Garnayak visited the site Tuesday and discovered various evidences suggesting that civilisation flourished in this now remote region during the Copper Age.
A visit to the site revealed that the mound, known as Bharati Huda, was first discovered by Purna Chandra Das, a resident of Tampada village, who passed on the information to ASI’s excavation branch in the area. The ASI team was quick to realise the importance of the discovery.
Garnayak told Orissa POST, “The mound is situated 4 km east of Niali township in Cuttack district and about 1 km from Jallarpur chowk. The mound is located between the river Prachi in the south and river Tanla in the north. This is a huge mound measuring about 12 acres and about 5 metres high compared to the surrounding area. A thorough survey of the mound and polished stone tools and faunal remains revealed that they belonged to the period between the Chalolithic period and early historic period.”
The team has undertaken a thorough exploration of the site for the last four days and during their exploration they unearthed various pottery shreds, animal bones and prehistoric tools.
“The Chacolithic potteries retrieved from the site consist of red ware, red-slipped ware, chocolate-slipped ware as well as black and red ware. Perforated ware, miniature pots, ring based pots, bowl on stand among others were also found from the site, which are very similar to those found in other Chacolithic sites in Orissa – such as Golabai Sasan and Suabarei,” Garnayak explained.
The archeologists have also found some knobbed ware and grey ware pieces, which according to them; belong to the early historic period. They are similar to the potteries shreds unearthed during excavations at Sishupalgarh and Narisho.
After examining the bone remains found from the site, archeologists believe that they mostly belong to deer, tortoise, sambar and other animals. “During our analysis of the bones, we found sharp cut marks indicating that people during that period used metal weapons to cut and divide meat and other substances,” the superintending archeologist observed.
Speaking about the importance of the site, Garnayak shared, “Earlier the Prachi valley was known for the archaeological remains in the form of temples and sculptures made by different sects ranging from early historic to the medieval period. Here, for the first time, the archeologists have indentified archeological remains dating back to the Chaloclithic period, which pushes back the antiquity of Prachi valley to prehistoric times.”
When asked about their future plans for the site, Garnayak said, “We are planning for a trial trench at the site and excavate some portion of the area. If we get sufficient evidence, we may apply for the permission from the ASI central branch to excavate the entire site.”
There are chances that site may have some Neolithic evidence, but it would be too early to confirm. Only further excavation would shed light on this aspect, he concluded.