Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan c6.s5: West Bengal
Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan c6.s5
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Contents
- c6.s5.t1 Kangsabati Valley — 3 parts
West Bengal
Kangsabati Valley
c6.s5.t1.1
Much of Bengal consists of the thick deposits of sand and silt which the Ganges and its tributaries bring down every year from the Himalayas. To this the sea also contributes. Thus out of 15 districts of West Bengal, leaving out the northern-most hilly districts, more than one-third of the south-eastern portion is nothing but low, coastal and deltaic. However, the area adjoining Chota Nagpur in Bihar and the highlands of Orissa is really a continuation of the same land forms. This had never been archaeologically examined, though the adjoining districts of Burdwan on the right, Ranchi and others in Bihar had yielded Stone Age tools. A very recent survey⁵⁶ of the Kasi (Kangasabti) valley Purulia⁵⁷ have yielded traces of several Stone Age cultures. Some 17 Early Palaeolithic sites occur on the Jam and 15 on the Kumari. Of these, Baddih, Hatikheda and Cheda seem to be sites where the palaeoliths—stained red and of dyke quartzite, pebble-butted but flat hand-axes, a few ovates and cleavers—were found in situ gravel which is about 5 ft. thick.
c6.s5.t1.2
⁵⁶ I.A.R., 1959-60, p. 48.
c6.s5.t1.3
⁵⁷ Before the re-organization of the States, these districts, particularly Purulia, were part of Bihar.