ISBN 978-4-902325-34-8
Occasional Paper 5
Linguistics, Archaeology and the Human Past
Edited by Toshiki OSADA and Akinori UESUGI
Indus Project Research Institute for Humanity and Nature Kyoto, Japan 2008
Occasional Paper 5
Linguistics, Archaeology and the Human Past
Edited by Toshiki OSADA and Akinori UESUGI
Indus Project Research Institute for Humanity and Nature Kyoto, Japan 2008
Occasional Paper 5: Linguistics, Archaeology and the Human Past Editor: Toshiki OSADA and Akinori UESUGI Copyright Ⓒ Indus Project, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature 2008 ISBN 978-4-902325-34-8
Indus Project, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN)
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CONTENTS
Preface Preliminary observations on Holocene fluvial sediments around Kanmer, Gujarat, India
1
S.N. Rajaguru and Sushama G. Deo
Preliminary observations on the excavation at Kanmer, Kachchh, India 2006-2007
5
J.S. Kharakwal, Y.S. Rawat and Toshiki Osada
Report on the faunal remains recovered from Kanmer, Gujarat, during the second field season (2006-07)
25
Pankaj Goyal and P.P. Joglekar
Archaeology with GIS in the Indus Project 45
H. Teramura, Y. Kondo, T. Uno, A. Kanto, T. Kishida, and H. Sakai
Interpreting patterns of Y chromosome diversity: pitfalls and promise: A case study from Southwest Asia
103 Peter A. Underhill
PREFACE
I am very happy to announce the publication of the fifth volume of our Occasional Paper here. We are excavating two places in India on behalf of the Indus project, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan. One is at Kanmer, Kachchh, Gujarat in collaboration with Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Udaipur and Department of Archaeology, State Government of Gujarat. The other is at Farmana, Rohtak, Haryana as a joint project with Deccan College, Pune. We have already published the first season’s report of the excavation at Kanmer in the second volume of our Occasional Paper and the report of exploration in the Ghaggar River basin and the first season’s report of excavation at Girwad, Mithathal and Farmana in the third volume of our Occasional Paper. Dr. Jeewan Singh Kharakwal of the Institute for Rajasthan Studies, JRN Rajasthan Vidyapeeth has written the second season’s report of excavation in Kanmer in the season of 2006-2007 with Dr. Y.S. Rawat of Department of Archaeology, the State Government of Gujarat and me. It was very impressive for me personally to recover a huge amount of micro-beads in a pot and to find a stonebuilt walls. The gate of citadel is still missing. I hope that the excavation team led by Dr. Kharakwal will find it in the future work. Besides Dr. P.P. Joglekar and Pankhaj Goyal of Deccan college have reported the analysis on the faunal remains from Kanmer and Prof. Rajaguru of Deccan college has contributed a preliminary report of his geological researches around Kanmer. For our project these analysis are very important to understand the environmental settings in the period of Indus civilization. We would like to continue making efforts to collect such data in the forthcoming season’s excavation. Prof. Takao Uno of International Research Institute for Japanese Studies, Kyoto and Dr. Hirofumi Teramura of RIHN together with Y. Kondo, A. Kanto, T. Kishida and Prof. H. Sakai have contributed a paper on GIS analysis and GPR survey at Kanmer and Farmana. GIS is a new method to make a documentaion for archaeological sites and to integrate all kinds of spatial data into one analytical platform. I am very happy to share this kind of new digitalized method with Indian archaeologists because it is not so much familiar among the Indian archaeologists. These collaborations will lead to a great achievement for our Indus project.
Prof. Peter A. Underhill of Stanford University, who is one of the most famous human geneticist, has contributed a paper on the DNA analysis of human genetics. This paper is a revised paper which was presented at the Harvard-RIHN Roundtable in 2005. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all contributors. Last but not least, Dr. A. Uesugi has done a lot of things to publish this volume in such a fine quality. I thank his painstaking efforts.
Toshiki OSADA
Project leader and Professor
Research Institute for Humanity and Nature
Kyoto, Japan
[email protected] Preliminary observations on Holocene fluvial sediments around Kanmer, Gujarat, India
Preliminary observations on Holocene fluvial sediments around Kanmer, Gujarat, India
S.N. Rajaguru Deccan College, Pune, India
Sushama G. Deo Deccan College, Pune, India
ABSTRACT This is a brief report of the geomorphological survey around Kanmer by the authors in February 2008. In this survey, a sedimentological study was conducted along the Aludawaro Vokro, a nala near the site of Kanmer. Besides, the area located to the north of the ancient site was also briefly surveyed to understand of the change of the water level in the Rann. This preliminary survey indicates the higher water levels during the Mid-Holocene which gradually dried up after 2000 BP creating the current landscapes of Kachchh. A general increase of aridity was observed during the survey.
in ephemeral streams. Alluvial deposits of 3m
INTRODUCTION
thickness with a lateral extent of less than 1 km are preserved in structural depression on both the banks
We carried out a reconnaissance survey of surfacial
of these ephemeral streams. We made detailed field
fluvial deposits (2-3 m thick) covering rocky
observations on some of the exposed sections and
pediments developed over ferrugeneous sandstones
carried out small excavations in the nala flowing close
and shales of the Upper Jurassic age around Kanmer.
to the site in the northern area.
Kanmer (23°23’N; 70°52’E) is a Harappan settlement in Rapar taluka of Kachchh district in Gujarat state
SEDIMENTOLOGICAL SURVEY ALONG ALUDAWARO VOKRO
(Kharakwal et al. 2007). In the area around Kanmer, sandstones at some places have preser ved tabular and trough cross
The area around the site is drained by a seasonal nala
bedding, fine laminations and also contain iron-
known as Aludawaro Vokro. This nala is low-order
oxide nodules and rhizoliths. Claystones are white or
ephemeral stream and originates in the inselberg-type
mottled. Fine intercalations of shale and sandstones
hillocks, 2 km west of the Harappan site. This nala
are observed in some of the exposed sections. These
has preserved colluvio-alluvial fill (2 - 2.5 m thick)
sediments are traversed by faults and lineaments
in the foot slope part of the hillock. The present nala
running in west-northwest to east-southeast and
is ungraded and flows over a rocky bed with three
north-northwest to south-southeast direction.
distinct rapids (knick points). Colluvio-alluvial fill
These geological features have affected landscape
is compact, yet without any development of calcrete
features like inselbergs and development of valley
pellets and nodules. Further downstream near the site,
pediment slope and of small rapids and waterfalls
we took a small trench (1.5 m by 2m) on the right -1-
S.N. Rajaguru and Sushama G. Deo
SURVEY IN THE LITTLE RANN OF KACHCHH
bank of the nala. This excavation revealed very well-laminated, wellsorted, fairly compact sand bed with a thickness of about 1.5 m. This sandy bed rests unconformably on
In order to get some idea about the change in the base
the weathered ferruginous sandstone. Interestingly
level of streams which originate in the foot slope of
this litho-unit is disconformably capped by very
the pediment and debouch into the Little Rann of
poorly sorted and weakly consolidated pebbly gravel
Kachchh, we surveyed the northern part of the Little
with potsherds probably of the Medieval period. The
Rann. We observed agate conglomerate in the context
top surface of this alluvial fill gives an appearance of a
of sandstone and shale of Tertiary age (?). This agate
terrace which is due to anthropogenic factor involving
conglomerate was perhaps the main source of raw
cultivation in recent times.
material for making beads and microliths at Kanmer.
In order to understand the probable source of water
We discovered microliths in the foot slopes of hills
during summer and also during low rainfall period,
within grayish clay capped by aeolian sand sheet at
we carried out a survey of some the pits around an
an altitude of 20 m above sea level. The bed level of
old water tank situated in the southern foot slope
the Rann in this area is hardly 4 m ASL (GPS 59). It,
of Mataji hillock. In one of the pits we observed,
therefore, appears that during the microlithic activity
excellent coarsening upward sequence from compact
the Rann was holding higher water level than the level
reddish silty sand to grayish gravelly sand within a
of the present salt encrusted surface of the Rann.
depth of 2.5 m. These sediments are locally known as
These preliminary field observations around
‘lilwa’ - a soil sediment used in constructing the house
Kanmer show that fluvial sediments (-3 m maximum)
floors and walls.
are non calcretised and show distinct pattern of
Further survey towards 2.5 km east of Kanmer
coarsening upward sequence. Finer textural characters
revealed distinct rejuvenation of the nala in the
of basal sediments indicate dominance of low energy
bedrock. On both the banks of this nala, a low 2
fluvial activity during the early phase of deposition
to 3 m alluvial fill resembling the terrace surface
probably during Mid(?)-Holocene. The same nala
is observed. This fill consists of rubble dominated
turned ephemeral, high energy and short-lived during
by sandstone clasts in the basal part and is capped
the Medieval period.
by compact brownish silty sand without any
Detailed textural, mineralogical and chemical
development of calcrete nodules. This fill not only
studies of basal sediments are in progress and are
shows coarsening upward but also gives an indication
likely to be of the Mid-Holocene (
