Sambodhi 1998 Vol 22

Author(s): Jitendra B Shah, N M Kansara
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 83

72
DP AGRAWAL
SAMBODHI
account We had dated two wood samples from Mula dam (TF-217, 345) Both were beyond the limit of 14c range One TL date for Didwana gives the range 144-350 Kyr Similarly TF-1002 from Dhom dam gives a date of greater than 35 Kyr and is thus beyond the range of 14c dating method In Kashmir (Kusumgar et al 1985) fission track dating technique has been used to date the Matuyama/Gauss magnetic reversal boundary to about 23 Myr This is close to the globally accepted value of 24 Myr for this event Its importance lies in the fact that this date marks the lower boundary of the Villafranchian (modern-like) fauna in South Asia In India the Neolithic cultures are generally equated with the beginning of agriculture and polished Stones axes It may however be not true for all the sites There is circumstantial evidence from the lakes of Didwana, Sambhar and Lunkaransar in Rajasthan that agriculture may have started 7-8 Kyr in that region The evidence is in the form of Cerealia type pollen and finely comminuted pieces of charcoal indicative of large scale burning and clearance In Rajasthan, however, the archaeological assemblages of this period are not Neolithic Stone axes but a microlithic assemblage In Kashmir the sites of Burzahom and Gufkral were excavated by the Archaeological Survey The earliest dates for Burzahom go back to 2600 B C Mehrgarh period 1A goes back beyond 8000 B C Thus, in the Indian subcontinent the oldest dates for the Neolithic should go back to this period It must be noted that Mehrgarh shows a transition from late Stone Age to early agriculture Eventually it blossoms into the Harappa culture The Peninsular Neolithic goes back to 2200 B Cat Terdal and Tekkalakota Chirand, a Neolithic site in Bihar, goes back to about 2000 B C Koldıhawa and Mahagara in U P tend to show the Neolithic beginning around 6000 BC The Vindhyan Neolithic at Kunjhun river site goes back to 3300 B C In retrospect, the dates from the earliest levels of Mehrgarh, Koldihawa, Kunjhun river and the lakes of Rajasthan indicate a much earlier beginning of agriculture in South Asia going beyond 6000 BC Bronze Age cultures The calibrated dates from Harappa generally do not go beyond 2500 B C Only the pre-harppan/Kotdijian dates go beyond c. 2500 B C The dates for the Kulli culture also suggest a time spread between 2500-2200 B C The Indian site Kalibangan (Harappa Culture) also shows a spread between 2400-2000 B C Lothal, on the other hand, tends to suggest that it dates to 2200-2000 B C