By
Sabatini Chatterjee
An ancient terraces of pre-historic age like agriculture tools of around 4,000 years old and urban life of 2400 years old were found from Balasore district in Odisha. The archaeologists have observed that the site hastraces of three cultural phases:Chalcolithic (2000 BCE to 1000 BCE), Iron Age (1000 BCE to 400 BCE), andEarly Historic Period (400 BCE to 200 BCE).
Initially, the Odisha Institute of Maritime and South East Asian studies (OIMSEAS) had discovered this historical site at Durgadevi village of the Remuna tahsil of Balasoredistrict of Odisha. In the starting of this year OIMSEAS got the permission from Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to carry out the primary phrase of excavation.
As per ASI, the site is located 20 km from Balasore town, bordering Mayurbhanj district.Furthermore, the Durgadeviarchaeological site has a circular mud fortification of about 4.9 km in circumference between river Sona on the south and Burahabalang on its north-eastern side.
According to the Institute the immediate aim of this present excavation:
- To correlate simultaneous growth and development of maritime activities, with urbanization in the east coast of India linking Ganga valley in north and Mahanadi valley in central Odisha.
- Understanding the early cultural development in northern Odisha.
The method of horizontal excavation is utilized in an area of two acres of high land, where a cultural deposit of about 4 to 5 meters was observed. Sunil Kumar Pattnaik, Archaeologist and Secretary of OIMSEAS opined that “the major discovery of the Chalcolithic period of Durgadevi is the base of a circular hut, black on red painted pottery, black slipped ware, red slipped ware, and copper objects. The floor of the circular hut is crammed with red soil”, thus archaeologist assumed that ancient settlement, and artifacts belonging the Chalcolithic period. Furthermore, he observed that the site yielded cutting-edge technology in comparison to that time period. Hence, this excavation represents transparent evidence of a settled life and had started agriculture, and domestication of animals, fishing with the history of around 2000 years.
Nonetheless, material remains found from this site included: pottery, remains of black burnished ware, black and red ware (BRW), iron objects like nails, arrow heads, and crucible and slag of various kinds which represents to the Iron Age period. Other specimens included: terracotta ear studs, bangles, beads, and some conical objects, were also excavating from the site. Thus, such actsof relative dating induces ice-breaking element in prehistoric cultural material remains in prehistoric India, especially in Odisha.
The first author works as a Research Assistant at the Cultural Research Institute, Kolkata under Backward Class Welfare Department, Government of West Bengal.