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INDIA’S NATIONAL MAGAZINE WWW.FRONTLINE.IN
a reign of terror to crusha
standing people’s struggle
against a plant of Sterlite Copper,
a subsidiary of the multinational
Vedanta groupARCHAEOLOGY
Unearthing
Asurdanga
Recent excavations at Birbhum district in West Bengal have led to the
discovery of an artisans’ village, dating back 3,500 years, notable for its
high level of craftsmanship. ey sunRip SANKAR CHATTOPADHYAY
RECENT excavations at Asur-
alay village in Mayureshwar 1 Block
of West Bengal’s Birbhum district
have revealed an artisans’ village,
dating back to the proto-historic
period. Even though the site is yet to
be dated, archaeologists believe that
the settlement existed sometime
between 2000 BCE and 1000 BCE.
‘The various tools and artefacts un-
earthed in the excavation carried out
byarchaeologists of the University of
Caleutta threw light not only on the
high level of craftsmanship of the
people of the region but also on the
activities in the oldest settlements of
Bengal
‘THE EXCAVATION MOUND. The materials discovered included semi-precious
stone beads of different shapes and sizes and microlithic stone tools.
Rajat Sanyal, head of the Depart-
ment of Archaeology, U:
Calcutta, who led the ex
said: “In March 2015, we \\ re ex-
ploring the Mayurakshi-Dwaraka
interfluvial zone in Birbhum when,
based on local information, we got to
know of a huge mound known as
Asurdanga in a village called Asur-
alay. We found on the surface black
and red ware (BRW) pottery, that is,
unanimously accepted as the general
ceramic type of the proto-historie
period in different parts of the coun-
95
try. In Bengal, this period is'dated
between the early second millen-
nium BCE and the early first millen-
nium BCE.” Other kinds of pottery
were also present in the site, inchud-
ing red ware, black ware and buff
ware (pottery of a yellowish colour).
‘The excavation began in March this
year and concluded in April.
DISCOVERY OF ARTEFACTS
The most striking discovery in the
excavation was the large number of
beads of different shapes and sizesBLACK AND RED WARE.
[serge |
made of semi-precious stones, mi-
crolithiestone tools, and raw materi-
als to make the artefacts. There was
also evidence of extensive burning
activities throughout the excavated
trenches, indicating large-scale pro-
duction of artefacts. “We found four
ovens in a row, and huge quantities
of charcoal and burnt patches on top
of extensive mud floors on which
production activities would take
place. Large sections of these floors
‘were still intact. What we found was
probably the working area of the set-
tlement,” said Sanyal.
‘The materials discovered showed
avery high level of skill in the crafts-
men of the settlement. Among the
RAJAT SANYAL, head of the Department of Archaeology, University of
Calcutta, who led the excavation, in one of the trenches,
FRONTLINE ~ JUNE33,2018
96
CARNELIAN BEAD.
materials recovered was a tiny, per-
fectly made bead of just 1.5 mm size,
with a hole in its centre for a thread
to pass through. This microscopic
piece of art is made of chalcedony
and produced from the most primit-
ive stone tools, “I really cannot an-
swer how something as delicate as
this could have survived thousands
of years, Itis amarvel how they could
have created something like this,”
said Sanyal. The biggest piece of
bead that has been found in the siteis
8.2 em long, and made of carnelian.
‘The stone tools that the people of
the settlement used to make the arte-
facts were mostly made of chert and
quartz. Some of the tools were also
made from bones of animals. Sanyal
pointed out that the craftsmen had a
specific technique, known as fluting,
for making these stone tools. This
technique involves slicing out uni-
form blades from a prepared cyl:
indrieal core by applying constant
vertical pressure. “This technique is
very common to many protohistorie
sites in central India and the Deccan.
But in Bengal we do not have enough
evidence of this technique being used
in the protohistorie period,” said
Sanyal.
According to Sujit Dasgupta,
former Deputy Director General of
the Geological Survey of India, who
has also been associated with this
project right from the beginning,
such chalcolithie sites can mostly be
found in the upland region of the
western fringe of the Bhagirathi.