Prehistoric Context of Mayurbhanj District of Orissa (India)

Prehistoric Context of Mayurbhanj District of Orissa (India)Author(s): Sudipta DasGuptaSource: Anthropos, Bd. 95, H. 2. (2000), pp. 485-500Published by: Anthropos InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40465955 .

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H anthropos I Tl 95.2000: 485-500

Prehistoric Context of Mayurbhanj District of Orissa (India)

Sudipta DasGupta

Abstract. - Lower Palaeolithic succession in India is generally represented within a single geo-chronological stage. Unfortunately, very few attempts have successfully isolated stages within it. Mayurbhanj district lies between Singhbhum (west) and Midnapur (east). The seven Lower Palaeolithic sites studied in the area indicate a heavy concentration of population in this period. Evidence seems to represent an archaic Lower Palaeolithic human occupation, which evolved into an Acheulian form comparable to the Midnapur industry. Finally it can be proposed that Mayurbhanj acted as a large, rich, and pristine epicentre of Lower Palaeolithic occupation from where successive periodic movements must have entered Midnapur district. [India, Mayurbhanj, Palaeolithic, earliest human occupation, settlement, population flow]

Sudipta DasGupta, Ph.D. candidate, University of Delhi, M. Sc. in anthropology (Calcutta University, 1996). - Her current research includes further investigations into the Palaeo- lithic succession in the district of Mayurbhanj.

1. Introduction

From the very days of inception of Indian prehistory, explanations, whenever sought, were invariably with either evolution or diffusion. It is important that one considers the stratigraphie context as it provides a handy chronological lead, but it should never dissuade one from examining the nature of prehistoric settlement pattern and its manner of dispersal. Excavations at primary sites like Mahadeo Piparía (Supekar 1968), Nevasa (Corvinus 1968/69), Bhimbetka (Misra 1961), and Hunsgi (Paddayya 1997) enabled us to clarify many of the misconceptions which were held as normative patterns earlier. The extensive evidence of surface clusters of the Lower Palaeolith- ic hitherto has remained to mere reporting items.

In this article I seek to examine a number of such clusters from Mayurbhanj, a district of Orissa, with a specific view to understand human activity and dispersal as suggested by Jacobson (1997).

One of the earliest excavated evidence of Lower Palaeoliths in India was reported from this district at Kuliana (Bose and Sen 1948). The excavation report shows certain interesting features. For instance, although the claimed chronology of the evidence was put to Lower Pleistocene, the tools described included crude choppers along with Late Acheulian o vates as well as Levalloisian flakes. The context of these tools is reported to be hard secondary latérite. This naturally brings us face to face with two main issues, viz., can one date the Mayurbhanj detritus as belonging to the Lower Pleistocene and associated with this will be the question how old is the Upper Acheulian in India. The site was revisited and the entire context was closely observed. It leaves no doubt that secondary latérite of most probably colluvial origin was transporting the tools from adjoining slopes and has subsequently spread over more than 50 m x 50 m. There must have been a natural pit at this area which enabled the accumulated debris to rise up to 8 to 9 ft. in thickness. The sites discovered and/or revisited as shown in the map are described below in brief.

2. Site Description Kuliana

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Baripada town. The entire region is characterised by extensive hard lateritic terrain. The excavated trenches dug by Bose and Sen (1948), about 5 m in depth, was unfortunately filled with rainwater when visited. The exposed sections which revealed lateritic pallets and red soil was about 8 ft. - 9 ft. in thickness. The total artefactual spread is 10m x 10 m. The tools collected from the site were recovered from the sides of the water-filled excavated pits. Tools collected were both surface finds as well as from in situ in the secondary hard latérite. The principal raw material of the assemblage is quartzite.

Kamta

The site of Kamta is to the southwest of the former site, opposite the National Highway No. 5. It is 17 km northwest to Baripada town. The total

artefactual spread is about 45 m x 15 m and 25 m x 10 m, consisted by the two pits. The site shows strong gully erosion at few places. The palaeoliths recovered from this site were from the secondary latérite which was overlain by a thin layer of sterile red soil. The average depth of these two pits were 7 ft. - 8 ft. The tools and artefacts collected showed heavy encrustation and staining.

Sirpunji

Sirpunji is one of the three discovered Palaeolithic sites by the author during her fieldwork. It is located 40 km to the northwest of Baripada town and is 4 km from the Burhabalang river. The site is within the premises of an undergraduate college adjoining to the flat rolling meadows with rocky hills called Chauragarhi, Netradungi, and Baddungi. The site spread is 20 m x 15 m and is

Anthropos 95.2000



Prehistoric Context of Mayurbhanj District of Orissa (India) 487

a huge eroded pit of secondary latérite of 8 ft. depth. The large number of yielded palaeoliths were both surface finds as well as in situ from the secondary latérite deposition. The palaeoliths were recovered from the top red soil and 3 pits of secondary latérite of average 5 ft. to 6 ft. thickness. The artef actual spread of these three pits are 15 m x 15 m; 5 m x 4 m; 6 m x 3 m.

Saraspasi

Saraspasi is the second discovered site which lies 1 km south to Bangriposi and 45 km northwest of Baripada town. The Burhabalang flows in the west-east direction from the site. The site shows traces of gully erosion. The eastern part of the site is forested while the western side shows scrubby vegetation. The site consists of four pits, three clubbed together while the fourth one is just a few feets away. This isolated pit has an artefactual spread of 25 m x 15 m and a huge depth of 10 ft. The remaining three have the following spread of 15m x 10m and depth of 7ft; 8m x 5m and 8 ft. depth and 7 m x 6 m and 7 ft. in depth. Among these three, the last two did not yield much tools. The whole artefactual content was recovered from the huge deposition (4 ft. - 6 ft.) of secondary latérite, while the red soil proved sterile. The bed rock was also seen to be exposed at a few places.

Sugapura

The third discovered Palaeolithic site of Sugapura got its name from the village with the same name lying to its south. It is about 23 km north of Baripa- da town. The river Burhabalang flows in the north. The lower palaeoliths from this site were mostly surface collections with few in situ collections from 2 ft. - 3 ft. thick secondary latérite. The bed rock and hard primary latérite were exposed at a few places.

Kalabadia

The site Kalabadia lies on an extensive lateritic terrain, about 6 km from the Burhabalang. The total artefactual spread at this site is about 150 m x 100 m. Two pits which have yielded a large number of tools measure 30 m x 15 m and 9 ft. in depth and 40 m x 20 m and 12 ft. in depth. A well has been dug in the second pit by the villagers from the nearby village of the same name. The exposed section of the well shows the primary latérite being overlain by coarse gravels and then by mottled

Anthropos 95.2000

clay. The site owing to its nearness to the village is quite disturbed.

Gengaraj

The site Gengaraj lies 4 km to the north of Ba- ripada town. Strong gully erosion is the distinctive character of this site. The Lower Palaeolithic artefacts were recovered from the sides of the gullies. The total artefactual spread is 125 m x 140 m. The artefacts were mostly fresh with few rolled specimens. Some tools have shown marks of encrustation and they are deeply stained red. The principal raw material of this assemblage is quartzite. Like the former site, even this site is quite disturbed owing to its location near a village.

3. Geo-Chronology

The geological observations of the seven sites discussed above were all situated on secondary latérite beds, often overlain by a thin and variable thickness of red soil. Besides artificial pits, natural pits were also encountered. Many implements lie in situ in these secondary latérite sections but most of the industry, otherwise, are surface finds. The fact that they were often encrusted or stained with ferruginous matter prove that they have been derived from the underlying secondary latérite. The general sections usually being of a variable thickness of latérite of secondary origin, this being in turn covered by a thin layer of superficial red soil, are all overlying the primary latérite at places. Assigning a chronological parameter to these geological sections is far from easy. Ac- cording to Bose and Sen (1948: 11 f.), this - "secondary latérite . . . was evidently laid under subaerial conditions, during which the stream in whose bed the boulders were laid, disappeared and the matrix of the conglomerate was subjected to a process of laterization. Infact, the inequalities in the original surface of the ground had . . . much to do with the thickness of lateritic accumulations in subsequent ages." Bose and Sen concluded that "it can ... be confidently stated that artefacts found at equal depths below the surface of the ground were not necessarily laid down at the same point of time."

Even the age of the secondary latérite is ob- scure. Bose and Sen (1948) too had failed to attach any chronological tag to this tool yielding layer as no fossil remains have been recovered from it. According to the scholars, the whole process having taken place subaerially makes the



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most commonly used method of relative dating by river-terrace method incompetent here. Bose and Sen could not assign the Kuliana industry to any chronological slot with the help of typology of the tools as none of the single types or even subtypes had a restricted zonal distribution and a consequent high index value. Only a general resemblance with Lower Palaeolithic was suggested. Sankalia (1974) has raised certain very important questions regarding the evolution of the Early Stone Age industry of Mayurbhanj. He agreed with A. K. Ghosh (1970) in suggesting a Middle Pleistocene date. With this overview, we might tentatively view the quaternary history of the region as shown in Fig. 1

Most of the heavy and consolidated latérites are the results of active colluviation that must have accumulated them as a high bench all around the foothills. From the character of the tools described from these latérites, it would seem almost certain that these activities continued all through the Mid- dle Pleistocene - at least in this region. The eroded detritus and the overlying red soil consequently need to be dated to an early Upper Pleistocene episode.

4. Analysis

The whole industry is described and analysed in this section, supported by tables and diagrams. Each site is separately discussed, subsequently highlighting its respective characteristic features.

Kuliana

Kuliana yielded 56 specimens of which 28 were cores and another 28 were flakes as shown in Table 1. Among the cores, flake cores form the

majority. In fact the heaviest artefact in the industry is a yellowish-grey coarse grained flake core. The cores show a lot of pebble cortex which are not retouched. Flakes in this industry mostly are not retouched. The most intriguing character in the industry is the presence of one blade and one blade core. The typological breakup in Table 2 suggests an Upper Acheulian character of the Kuliana industry. The finished types are replete with controlled cylinder hammer scars and also maintain a fair amount of retouchings at the borders. The sharp lateral borders continue over the butt end in the bifaces (Fig. 2-4). Fig. 2 shows a deliberate narrowing of the butt end. The only point in which the given industry disagrees with the known French Acheulian character is the size of bulk of the specimens. The hand axe and cleaver are above 15 cm in length and 9 cm in breadth, although fairly well finished.

The large number of specimens described and illustrated by Sen and Bose (1948) showed a profusion of pebble-based core and flake types. The collection made during the present exploration, however, yielded no such pebble-based types, which could help us compute a pebble index for the site.

Kamta

The revisit to Kamta accounted for 134 pieces of types and artefacts. Table 1 shows the relative frequencies of artefacts and finished types of this industry. This includes 90 cores and 44 flakes. The artefacts are generally highly stained and heavily encrusted. A majority of these are unfinished flake cores measuring about 10- 14 cm in length and weighing nearly 300-400 gms. A large number of these cores as well as the flakes maintain pebble surface which are left unretouched. Many

Anthropos 95.2000




Table 1: The Relative Frequencies of the Various Artefacts and Finished Types

Site Core Flake Flake Discoid Nucleate Blade Retouched Finished Total Flake Retouched Blade Finished Total

Type Type A 17 - 6 1 - 4 28 20 5 1 2 28

Kuliana B 60.71 21.42 3.57 14.28 71.42 17.85 3.57 7.14 C 30.35 10.71 1.78 7.14 35.71 8.92 1.78 3.57

A 45 10 16 - - 19 90 27 13 4 44 Kamta B 50 11.11 17.77 21.11 61.36 29.54 9.09

C 33.58 7.46 11.94 14.17 20.14 9.70 2.98

A 43 3 13 1 - 19 79 39 17 - 7 63 Sirpunji B 54.43 3.79 16.45 1.26 24.05 61.90 26.98 11.11

C 30.28 2.11 9.15 0.70 13.38 27.46 11.97 4.92

A 28 1 9 2 - 17 57 25 4 - 7 36 Saraspasi B 49.1 1.75 15.78 3.50 29.8 69.44 11.11 19.4

C 30.10 1.075 9.67 2.15 18.27 26.88 4.30 7.52

A 46 1 10 3 1 28 89 33 6 5 44 Sugapura B 51.68 1.12 11.23 3.37 1.12 31.46 75 13.63 11.36

C 34.58 0.75 7.51 2.25 0.75 21.05 24.81 4.51 3.75

A 49 9 23 - 12 93 39 14 - 1 54 Kalabadia B 52.68 9.67 24.73 12.90 72.22 25.92 1.85

C 33.33 61.22 15.64 8.16 26.53 9.52 0.68

A 21 1 2 - - 8 32 28 1 8 37 Gengaraj B 65.62 3.12 6.25 25 75.67 2.70 21.62

C 30.43 1.44 2.89 11.59 40.57 1.44 11.59

A = number B = percentage of total cores / total flakes C = percentage of total industry

Table 2: Tool Types with Their Frequencies of the Industry

Sites -> Kuliana Kamta Sirpunji Saraspasi Sugapura Kalabadia Gengaraj

Core Types Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %

Hand axe 2 33.33 8 34.78 6 23.07 6 24 10 27.77 2 15.38 3 20 Clever 1 16.66 4 17.39 3 11.53 5 13.88 5 38.46 1 6.66 Chopper - 1 4.34 - 7 28 1 2.77 1 7.69 1 6.66 Dimunitive hand axe - - 1 3.84 3 8.33 2 15.38 3 20 Side chopper - 1 4.34 - _____ Chopping tool - - 1 3.84 ----- Proto hand axe - - - - - 1 2.77 - - Pointed chopper - - - - - 1 2.77 - - Tip of hand axe - 1 4.34 3 11.53 2 8 2 5.55 1 7.69 - Broken hand axe 1 16.66 - - - - 3 8.33 Unfinished hand axe - 3 13.04 4 15.38 1 4 5 13.88 1 7.69 - Broken cleaver 1 4.34 1 4.34 - 14- Unfinished cleaver - - 1 3.84 1 4 1

Flakes types Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %

Flake hand axe - - 4 Notch - 1 4.34 - - - - 2 13.33 Side scraper (single) 2 33.33 3 13.04 4 15.38 6 24 5 13.88 1 7.69 4 26.66 Backed knife - - 3 11.53 - - 1 1 6.66

Total 6 23 26 25 36 13 15

Anthropos 95.2000




Fig. 3: A narrowed butt end cleaver from Kuhana.

Fig. 4: A medium-sized biface from Kuliana.

i - i - i - i - i 1 2 3,4 5 cm (Scale of the figures) Fig. 8: Single side scraper from Kamta.

Anthropos 95.2000

Fig. 2: A Lower Palaeolithic biface from Kuliana.



Prehistoric Context of Mayurbhanj District of Orissa (India) 49 1

of these massive flakes with pebble cortex in the dorsal surface have been skillfully shaped into large cleavers. Flake cores usually maintain the pebble cortex while nucleates, which are much smaller in size, are nearly exhausted without any cortex. The finished types of cores are: 8.94 % hand axes and 3.72 % cleavers. Table 2 shows the typological breakup of the industry. Flakes are seldom retouched into types and have distinct positive bulbs, and never show any striking platform. Combining these attributes, one can conveniently infer that the industry represents an archaic Acheulian stage of development.

The makers generally employed stone hammer technique except when the raw material was ho- mogeneous, the flaking was done with cylinder hammer blows. The pebble index is rather high 62.96 %, which is surprising, as the site is several kilometers away from the river. So, one can enter- tain the possibility of regular mobility for tapping resources from forested foothills. Fig. 5 is excep- tional to the otherwise observed trend of hand axes in the industry. Though it is quite massive in size (14.1 cm x 8.2 cm x 4 cm) it is extensively retouched on both the surfaces. The shape of the tool is quite comparable to "limande" of French connotation. One interesting feature of the tool is that it defies the usual trend, of an unretouched pebble cortex at the anterior part and lateral border in the dorsal surface. In spite of the massivity of the tool it has a lenticular cross-section, again pointing to the superior technical ability of the makers of the industry.

The cleavers in general show a sharp border running over the butt end except in such cases where such a modification was not necessary as shown in Fig. 6. Usually the massive shape and size of the pebble chosen determines the shape and size of the tools. In contrast to them there are some medium-sized specimens, which do not exceed 12 cm in length and which have been beautifully worked into Middle-to-Upper-Acheulian types by extensive use of cylinder hammer technique (Fig. 7). The illustrated specimen (Fig. 8) is a medium-sized flake and has been retouched along one border to give rise to a single side scraper convex. The retouchings are in the form of single series of flakings maintaining their distinct point of impact. The dorsal surface is given a regular shape by small secondary flakings by cylinder hammer technique. The lateral borders slope down to the retouchings as well as the opposite side. On the overall appearance, this seems to represent a typical variety of side scraper characteristic of this industry.

Anthropos 95.2000

Consequently, there is no alternative but to accept that Kamta represents a long duration of occupation and this may not have graduated into a Upper Acheulian variety till the end. Though the Kamta industry which was collected from loose alluvium, while the Kuliana material was mostly derived from hard and consolidated secondary latérite, the artefacts of Kuliana are neither stained as red nor encrusted as heavily as those collected from Kamta. It would seem that the raw material used in Kuliana is much more homogenous in texture and hence not very suitable for lateritic activity on them. Finally it is important to note that Kuliana is a much more localised site than Kamta. Consequently there are more points of difference between the two localities than there are points of similarities.

Sirpunji

A total of 142 specimens were picked up at random from the three natural pits of Sirpunji. The relative frequencies of the industry is shown in Table 1. These are mainly coarse grained quartzite with slight lateritic staining in most of them. Some of the flake cores are half finished types, indicating that massive specimens of either core or pebble (measuring 22 cm x 8 cm x 8 cm for instance) have been worked for obtaining suitable flakes on which smaller types could be finished. The pebble index computed for the total industry is 23.5 %. Large flake cores often exceed 1 kg in weight. Most of the flakes measure 8 cm - 12 cm in length and have original cortex forming the striking platform. The discoid cores and nucleates are biconical and are excellent example of optimal use of pebble of various size and shape. Most of the chunky and massive flakes show truncations along the border indicating being a by-product of large core preparation. Flakes are mostly unretouched constituting 61.90%, minimally retouched flakes constitute another 26.98 %. No Levallois flake or tortoise core have been found. The frequencies of the tool types is given in Table 2. The finished types representing the core segment shows hand axe-cleaver ratio to be 2:1. The hand axes are of variable shapes including one specimen identified as a dimunitive hand axe. Besides, these there are broken tips of three Late Acheulian hand axes in this assemblage. Incidentally this happens to be the only site out of all the sites discussed where such a large number of backed knives have been recovered.

The hand axes from the industry show a large variation in their morphology. For instance, the




Fig. 9: An asymmetrical hand axe with a butt end from Sirpunji.

Fig. 10: A medium-shaped high angled flake worked into biface at Sirpunji.

Fig. 11: A medium-shaped pebble skillfully bifurcated along the axis to form a.U-cleaver at Sirpunji.

Fig. 12: A suitably shaped pebble minimally retouched to form a side scraper at Sir- punji.

largest specimen maintains about 30% pebble cortex near the bulky butt end delivered from the two lateral borders that they converge medially to form a sharp pointed end (Fig. 9). The undersurface however is worked over a larger area constituted by few flat large scars. Only a few cylinder hammer scars are visible, and these are also more proximally shifted, as if to render a symmetry to the base. Besides these there is no retouching of any kind visible anywhere. The resultant morphology of the tool compares more with a "Ficron" (Bhattacharya 1979) of French connotation.

Fig. 10 represents one of the common types of hand axes of the industry. It measures 12.7 cm x 6.3 cm x 3 cm. It is prepared on a medium-sized flake and the ventral surface maintains a large part of the scar of detachment. The bulbar borders show primary and secondary flakes. The latter series of flakes have been removed by cylinder hammer technique. The butt end has also been thinned out by a few similar blows. As a result of this the specimen has become remarkably thin. The anterior end shows a flat sloping scar intersecting with the scar of detachment on the opposite surface.

The classic cleaver, Fig. 11, has been very intelligently made on a plano-convex pebble. The flat undersurface just required only two or three flattish flaking by cylinder hammer technique. The opposite surface which was conical in shape was very skillfully retouched to get a sharp lateral border. The bulb of percussion is situated almost medially along the lateral borders. Consequently this border required larger and deeper scars to bring about a bilateral symmetry. The opposite border has thin and regular retouchings done all along up to the anterior end. These retouchings tend to become more extensive as one progresses towards the butt end, which is also very symmetrically shaped. Even the butt end was well attended with small secondary retouchings. As a natural meeting of two borders was absent, a beautiful cleaver facet by secondary retouching facilitated the transverse working end. This is a very rare phenomenon observed in Indian flake cleavers. The facet is very carefully nibbled out without damaging the regular straight border.

The next illustrated tool is a single side scraper (Fig. 12). This tool is again on a plano-convex pebble. The flat undersurface has very conveniently served as a striking platform to give shape to the entire tool. Using this striking platform, first a slope on the concave surface was made and then a second series of secondary flaking formed the working end. One of the lateral borders was

Anthropos 95.2000



Prehistoric Context of Mayurbhanj District of Orissa (India) • 493

beautifully made to make it handy by giving very steep vertical flakings. The tool is comparable to what Bordes (1968) described as "rabot" or a push-plane. The specimen is prepared on a core which renders to be more comparable to the French "rabot."

S araspasi

The industry of Saraspasi has a total of 93 spec- mens, 57 of these are cores and 36 are flakes. The initial breakup of the industry is given in Table 1. The artefacts made of coarse yellowish-grey quartzite mostly were not very weathered. The majority of these are cores and flake cores weighing up to 500 gms and possess deep scooping flake scars, suggesting employment of an archaic technique. Though there are quite a few nucleates, they are not totally exhausted, probably because there was a profusion of big pebbles near the site. This view is well substantiated by the peeble index, which is 26:7. Though in general the cores and flakes have a unretouched pebble cortex, some are skillfully retouched into types. Among the finished core tools, shown in Table 2, the percentage of hand axes and cleavers is almost the same (hand axe 10.52% and cleavers 12.27%) which are mostly medium in size and show pronounced positive bulb of percussion. The striking platform is usually the natural pebble cortex. There are four retouched flakes, but the high percentage of finished types, 16.66 % single side scrapers and 2.77 % flake hand axes, suggest that they were quite versed with making flake types. But, none of the types show the existence of prepared striking platform.

In general, the industry is reasonably well prepared and does not show any weathering and is free from heavy ferric encrustation, unlike the other industries. Fig. 13 is a massive hand axe prepared on a plano-convex pebble. Large flakes have been removed from all around the lateral borders to meet medially to form a keel-like elevation. A narrow strip of pebble cortex forms the actual keel which runs almost up to 2/3rd of the length, a set of steep flakes have been delivered from the anterior end to meet these median ridge. The butt end is entirely formed by the pebble cortex. The undersurface has been prepared only along a single broder. Here again, the scars delivered show a great deal of control in their execution. The other border probably was also planned for similar treatment but eventually was not completed. In overall character, inspite of its massivity, the tool demonstrates a high degree of control of technique of manufacture. The illustrated hand axes in

Anthropos 95.2000

Fig. 13a: A massive pebble with deep scars delivered bilaterally from Saraspasi.

Fig. 13b: Ventral surface of the same tool.




Fig. 14a: A biface from Saraspasi prepared on a massive pebble.

Fig. 14b: Ventral surface of the tool.

Fig. 15: A cleaver with an oblique-bit prepared on pebble from Saraspasi.

Fig. 14 seems to have been prepared on a massive 1 kg pebble by delivering deep biting scars from a few chosen angles. The pebble cortex at large has been left unretouched. A series of secondary scars removed by cylinder hammer technique has been delivered along one of the lateral borders. The opposite border has been left unretouched and hence is wavy in alignment. In contrast the worked border appears perfectly regular and straight. The combination of apparently crude technique and resultant morphology with a touch of advanced technique at some places may be taken to indicate that the specimen represents an ad hoc workmanship of an otherwise Middle-to-Upper-Acheulian tradition. The 1 1.4 cm x 8 cm x 4.2 cm measuring cleaver (Fig. 15) is yet another illustrated tool of this assemblage. The specimen is not a classical piece. The butt end has been deliberately pointed although the pointed tip is slightly askew towards one of the lateral borders, giving it a rhomboidal shape. Flaking done from alternate surfaces of the two lateral borders give it a parallelogram cross-section. The anterior end is formed by the intersection of the bulbar surface with the flat undersurface. The butt end is obtained by the execution of cylinder hammer blows, delivered from both the surfaces, in a manner that these terminated into steps. The 13 cm long single side scraper is on a side flake. The bulb lies medially on the thick lateral border which has been given steep vertical flakings. The opposite border is thin and sharp. It is on this thick border that a series of flakes have been removed extending up to the terminal end. Each of these flake scars maintains distinct points of impacts of cylinder hammer technique. Besides these, no retouchings in the manner of Middle Palaeolithic side scraper were delivered. The resultant specimen is very sturdy and has a durable cutting edge.

Sugapura

Sugapura is yet another open air site, discovered during the present exploration. No distinctive clustering is identifiable in this site. The tools are prepared on coarse grained quartzite and are lightly stained, but no ferric encrustation is visible. Most of the cores and flakes of the industry thus maintains original pebble cortex.

The relative frequencies of artefacts and types in this industry is shown in Table 1 . The pebble cortex computed from the collection is 22.3 %. Out of the unfinished specimens, an overwhelming number 51.68% are simple flake cores. Large discoid cores are rare, if any are exhausted nucle-

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Prehistoric Context of Mayurbhanj District of Orissa (India)

ates occur in 11.23%. In addition to these three massive blade cores, one of them maintaining a blade bed as large as 12.3 cm x 4.9 cm was found. The size of flakes range from 14 cm x 9 cm whereas there are others which measure 6 cm x 2 cm. The natural pebble cortex forms the striking platform as a rule. Many a times, the ventral scars of detachment of these flakes have been worked. But there is no significant number of flake types. Table 2 records the frequencies of tool types in this industry. Among the finished types an overwhelming number of hand axes are found (1 1.23 %) followed by cleaver, chopper and dimunitive hand axes. In addition to these finished types, some excellent pieces of broken fragments of hand axes (probably made on flakes) and ñ'e unfinished hand axes have also been recorded. The state of preservation of the industry is so poor that illustrations have been very difficult. Fig. 16 is a medium-sized hand axe maintaining the original pebble cortex at the butt end. The anterior end is slightly transverse, besides the lateral borders are slightly concave. The splitting of the hand axe has been done in such a way that the scar of detachment forms the undersurface. The dorsal surface is naturally elevated, giving it a triangular cross-section near the maximum breadth. Large number of cylinder hammer flows have been delivered from the undersurface, many of them terminating into series of steps. Addition- al retouching of the manner of Late Acheulian dressing is almost rare. Consequently, one can infer that these typo-technological characteristic are indicating a Middle Acheulian status for the industry.

Fig. 17 is a specimen that can be best described as a protohand axe. A tabloid shaped pebble has been chosen for manufacturing this otherwise fine specimen of hand axe. It is only because that the undersurface is left untouched that the specimen has to get categorised as a protohand axe. This pebble chosen has a flat undersurface which acts as a convenient platform for knapping flakes, from all around the lateral borders and anterior ends. It

495

Fig. 16: An asymmetrical hand axe with pebble butt end from Sugapura.

Fig. 17: A tabloid pebble unifacially worked with a narrow butt end from Sugapura.

Fig. 18: A medium-sized hand axe with pebble butt from Kalabadia

Table 3: Microlithic Collection from two Different Sites of Mayurbhanj

Site Flake Notch Blade Fluted Macro- Point Lunate Flake Thumb- R. flake core lunate core nail

Kalabadia 17.39 2.17 45.65 19.56 2.17 2.17 2.17 4.34 2.17 8 1 21 9 1 1 1 2 1

Gengaraj 20 - 46.66 - 13.33 6.66 - 13.33 3 7 2 1 2

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is only the last l/3rd of the border forming the posterior end which is left untouched. Most of the flakes are the products of cylinder hammer technique and in addition to these a series of retouchings were delivered all around the anterior end and parts of the two lateral borders.

The broken tips of hand axes in this industry dispel all the indications of its being an archaic industry. These are not only extensively retouched tips of hand axes but also show a rounded off nature of the anterior ends. It would appear that the majority of the finished products of this industry maintains a consistent character of rounded-off tips of their hand axes. The specimens of this industry confirms once again that isolated specimen can never be taken to indicate a correct chrono-cultural status of any industry.

Kalabadia

Kalabadia has been described by many scholars earlier (Mohanty, Basa, and Tripathy 1997). The pebble index for this industry is only 20.4 %. The initial breakup of this industry is given in Table 1 . The cores and flakes collected from the site are massive in size and shape and sometimes exceed 1 kg in weight. Most of the flake cores maintain deep scooping flake scars. The flakes produced are massive as block-and-block technique was employed. All flakes have their pebble cortex forming their striking platform. A few flakes have been reshaped into crude cleavers with minimum working along the lateral borders. Table 2 shows the typological breakup of the industry. As regards the finished types, the site yields a large percentage of cleavers 38.46 %. Hand axes occur only in half the frequen- cy 15.38%. In addition to these the sites show some peculiarities as well. For instance, there are two hand axes which are only 6-7 cm in length and these, when compared with the massive hand axe, would appear immediately self-contradictory. Likewise the tip of a quartz hand axe shows delicate Late Acheulian retouching which leads us to believe that the site records the cultural features of a rather long duration. Numerous chips and cores of cherts are also found in the same cluster, which are distinctly part of Microlithic workmanship (46 such specimens could be collected during the present exploration shown in Table 3).

Fig. 18 is one of the two hand axes. The tool is made on a plano-convex pebble and measures 1 1 cm x 6.3 cm x 4.5 cm. The pebble cortex is left unretouched and forms the butt end of the ventral surface. Though one or two stone hammer blows are seen, mostly cylinder hammer technique has

been employed and few secondary retouchings at one of the lateral borders are also observed. The dorsal surface is extensively worked on and quite a few stone hammer blows are present on this surface. The resultant tool is quite sturdy though not massive. The maker has intelligently planned his tool on this plano-convex pebble, as he has made use of not only the durability and texture of the raw material but also its shape and size. To achieve the rounded butt end, he just left the concave pebble cortex untouched. The undersurface has been completely worked and almost all the scars maintain shallow points of impact. Both the anterior and posterior ends of the specimen show additional flakings as well to give the final shape to the specimen. The resultant shape of the specimen is almost plano-convex and consequently in profile the lateral border almost merges with the ventral surface. Fig. 19 is a very good example of a classic piece of U-shaped cleaver. By the size (9.2 cm x 5 cm x 3.3 cm) of the tool it can easily be categorised as a diminutive cleaver. The butt end of the ventral surface shows a large portion of unretouched pebble cortex. The lateral borders and anterior working end is extensively retouched by cylinder hammer technique. The dorsal surface of the tool shows extensive flakings by cylinder hammer technique. Unlike the usual trend of manufacturing cleavers here, both the surfaces are worked to form the transverse working end. Further, one can easily judge that this and similar other tools of the industry have been prepared on split pebbles in such a manner that the flat undersurface or the scar of detachment could be used as platform for the dorsal surface dressings.

The character of Kalabadia, as such, would appear to be of an extremely mixed nature. That all these materials could not belong to the same period of activity is certain, but one would like to know how they could come to occur within the same cluster. One of the numerous problems of working in an open air site is the possibility of such artificial incorporation of apparently diverse cultural products within a single cluster. Notwith- standing these possibilities inbuilt in such investigations, one is bound to accent that Kalabadia must have witnessed a long period of occupation from Pleistocene to Early Holocene time. What remains important, however, is to see how the settlement area of a Late Acheulian hunter-gatherer group be favoured also by such diverse economies as microlithic using hunter-gatherers and possibly also some early farming groups. Considering the locational feature of the region, it would appear that once the Lower Palaeolithic group abandoned

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Fig. 19: A dimunitive cleaver from Kalabadia.

this area, the microlith users must have occupied it. The solitary Neolithic cultigen (Fig. 20) may have appeared in the scene much later only to select suitable stones from the naturally occurring profusion of boulders. This would seem to be a possibility mainly because remains of Neolithic activity, besides the half finished ring stone, are virtually absent. But the village and the agricul- tural fields close to the site may have been the actual Neolithic sites, now completely obliterated.

Gengaraj

Gengaraj like Kalabadia has already been reported earlier (Mohanty, Basa, and Tripathy 1997). Dur- ing the present exploration a total of 69 specimens were collected. The initial breakup of the artefacts and tools are given in Table 1. Out of these, 15 specimens are finished types (21.7 %). The rest of the specimens are medium-sized cores and flakes of moderately weathered chalky yellow quartzite. A minority of fresh tools are prepared on compact grey quartzite. The pebble index computed was found to be 21.7 %. The flakes are usually medium sized, some times retouched into types, but none of them show usage of prepared core technique. The flakes scars on many of these flakes indicate employment of cylinder hammer technique.

The finished types include 3 hand axes, 1 cleaver, 1 chopper, and 3 diminutive hand axes. The flake types include 1 backed knife, 2 notches, and 4 side scrapers. The hand axes are very well finished and are entirely finished by cylinder hammer technique. The retouchings in the lateral borders extend down the butt end. Since this industry is composed of only medium-sized cores and flakes, the tools finished on them are also smaller in size than the earlier described assemblages. The typological breakup of the industry is given in Table 2. For instance, a beautiful medium-sized hand axe (Fig. 21) measures only 1 1.8 cm x 6.8 cm x 3.0 cm. This conforms to the typical Upper

Fig. 20: Some of the younger cultigens found in association with the Palaeolithic industries of Kalabadia and Gengaraj.

Fig. 21: A typical Late Acheulian from Gengaraj.

Fig. 22: A cleaver on a massive flake from Gengaraj.

Fig. 23: A diminuiti ve hand axe from Gengaraj.

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Acheulian types of French connotation. The technique of manufacture is also quite well advanced with extensive retouchings visible all around the working border and butt end. It is evident that such delicate retouchings could be executed only by cylinder hammer technique. Another finished specimen is a finely prepared flake cleaver (Fig. 22). This measures 13.8 cm x 10.8 cm x 2.3 cm; considering its length and breadth the thickness of the specimen would seem to be unusually less. In fact, functionally such specimens are hardly durable. Yet this thin and flat flake has been chosen and converted into a cleaver with minimum working done along the lateral borders and the butt end seems to be very interesting. The tool is a very good example of execution of cylinder hammer technique. These two specimens are unusually well preserved in contrast to the general character of the industry.

The diminutive hand axes are very well finished and are also equally weathered. Among them, there is a well documented one (Fig. 23). Both the surfaces are extensively worked by cylinder hammer technique. These shallow, flattish flakes from the middle to the borders are in a series form resulting in a perfect sub-cordate shape, measuring 7.9 cm x 6.1 cm x 2 cm. The working borders are beautifully retouched, which is demonstrative of the superior technical ability of the maker. The specimen is fairly well preserved and is slightly stained. The overall feature of the tool that strikes one at once is its extraordinary thinness for the breadth achieved. And this has been possible only through the controlled use of cylinder hammer technique. This conforms very well to the late Lower Palaeolithic biface type in its technological characteristics.

In addition to these, flakes of quartz of almost the same size as those of quartzite are also found in the same assemblage (Table 3). Some of these are retouched into side scrapers. In addition to these, a tiny Neolithic celt (5 cm x 3 cm x 1 cm) also occurs within the same assemblage.

Like the assemblage at Kalabadia, the Gengaraj evidences also show a mixed character. The Lower Palaeolithic material, however, at this site is fairly weathered and heavily stained indicating their antiquity. The area appears to have been not exactly an occupational site, but only a region where prehistoric population from different chrono-cultural periods must have been camping for harnessing the advantage of the profusion of available raw material. Consequently, it will not be very wise to attempt a settlement analysis of any particular cultural period from this kind of assemblage.

5. Conclusion

An integrated approach to corresponding natural areas with a cultural area might help to understand human activities of the area insofar as the discovered evidences are concerned. That is instead of just reporting the sites in their stratigraphie context and merely mentioning the total number of artefacts and then comparing them with any available scale of reference, one can probably extract more meaningful evidence of human activity from surface analysis. So an endeavour was made to reconstruct the mode of adaptation along with its peculiarities by an intensive analysis of the typo- technological details of the collected artefacts.

Before drawing any conclusion from the present work, it must be borne in mind that the inner character and succession within Lower Palaeolithic in India is still understood in a very generalized manner, this is primarily because we have had no access to a chronological succession demonstrable within Lower Palaeolithic. That is, a massive crude French Abbevillian-like stage distinctively preced- ing to the Middle and Upper Acheulian phase has so far not been demonstrated. Yet, in terms of typology both these forms (viz. Abbevillian and Acheulian) are invariably found occurring in the same geo-chronological context (cf. Narmada). In the face of such a generalized appearance of Indian Lower Palaeolithic, very few attempts could be successfully made to isolate these two stages within the Indian context.

If we look at the illustrations and descriptions of the Lower Palaeolithic of Bhimbetka and Ad- amgarh (both in Madhya Pradesh), we would have no doubt that a distinct Upper Acheulian stage probably separated from its archaic predecessor (viz. Abbevillian) shortly after its emergence. The surface collections made by Ghosh (1970b) in Singhbhum likewise indicate a Middle to Late Acheulian feature of this region, albeit not exactly comparable to Bhimbetka-Adamgarh scenario. Lower Palaeolithic evidences from Ayodhya Hills, further east in Midnapur have shown isolated surface occurrences of massive hand axes and cleavers on quartz and fossil wood (Chakrabarty 1993). In terms of typo-technology, however, these show such an excellent workmanship that one would not hesitate to compare them with Middle Acheulian of French connotation. Put together, these evidences of this contiguous region from Singhbhum to Midnapur would tend to indicate a more conservative and hence probably archaic form of Acheulian becoming more prominent as one moves from west to east.

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Mayurbhanj district is situated like a wedge between Singhbhum in the west and Midnapur in the east. In terms of forest cover and thick lateritic activity, this district compares more with Midnapur than with Singhbhum. The seven Lower Palaeolithic sites considered in this study indicate a heavy concentration of population in this period for the entire zone. Almost all the sites show more than 10% of finished types in a consistent manner. Pebble cortex, massive pebbles chosen, and deep biting scars present are some of the attributes indicating rather archaic antiquity for these industries. Needless to emphasise that the study being on surface collection, many of these sites show Late Acheulian features in minority mixed with the above mentioned massive types. In two of them, even microlithic assemblages occur su- perimposed in the same region. Another important feature which needs special mention here is the conspicuous lack of Levallois flake, tortoise core, or even proper Acheulian side scrapers. It is tempt- ing, therefore, to suppose that probably an archaic Lower Palaeolithic colonization took place in this region. It may have subsequently evolved into an Acheulian form more comparable to the Midnapur industry than with the Singhbhum industry. This is possibly because Singhbhum forms an extension of the Chota Nagpur plateau which is replete with Late Acheulian evidences of the Central Indi- an variety (Chakrabarty 1998; Bhattacharya and Singh 1997/98). Proceeding with the assumption that in Mayurbhanj we have an extensive Lower Palaeolithic population both in time and space, a provisional estimation of the prehistoric status of Lower Palaeolthic colonization in Mayurbhanj may be summarised in the following words.

Lower Palaeolithic settlements usually occur at a higher plane lying between the lowland of the river bed and the upland of the forest fringe. These settlements are spread over large areas depend- ing on the topography of the flat land available. Pebbles from the riverbeds were picked up and brought to the chosen area to finish into types. The types finished are always crudely modified shapes of the original pebbles. Seldom have there been attempts made to obtain medium-shaped fragments out of the massive cores in order to finish them into types.

There is evidence of an internal evolution demonstrable in the tool clusters as one moves to the southern limits of the river downstream. This is indicated by the increase of cylinder hammer techniques and medium-shaped finished products available in the southern sites. One can assume from this, that these regions were occupied for

a larger expanse of time, probably because of continued availability of rich biomass. A colonization extending for a longer duration can cer- tainly be reconsidered as occupational site on a simplistic logic. The rich colluviation witnessed in this region would indicate that such settlements must have succeeded the period of lateritic activity. Consequently these can be ascribed to Upper Pleistocene time bracket.

The northern sites, Saraspasi, and Sirpunji having no such lateritic deposition cannot be linked to any such geo-climatic regime. As such a mere typo-technological estimation can be used to ascribe these settlements to a time bracket which preceded the date of lateritic deposition.

Mayurbhanj represents a Lower Palaeolithic character which has very little similarity with those discovered in the west, in Singhbhum district. On the other hand the Lower Palaeolithic evidences from the east, i.e., Midnapur would seem to show a closer proximity.

It is, therefore, proposed that Mayurbhanj acted as a large, rich, and pristine epicentre of Lower Palaeolithic colony from where successive periodic movements might have entered in the eastern mountains and forests of Midnapur district. That such a movement must have continued through a long period, may be extending over more than 60 to 100 thousand years, is also indicated from the fact that microliths as well as Neolithic cultigens are found overlapping in many of these sites.

A successful colonization over a period of time runs the risk of overexploitation. Such a situation can create considerable stress in the society, and migration as also internal change to increase the resource retrieval potentiality can result because of this. If migration did occur, it must have been towards the east, and, if this was coupled with internal change, one can view the southern sites along the Burhabalang as representing these changes. Settlement as also dispersal of these bands were heavily dependent on the availability of suitable raw material and hence one can seldom find concentrated tool clusters penetrating the forests.

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Prehistoric Context of Mayurbhanj District of Orissa (India)