[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989) › v1.c14.s7.2 # An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c14.s7.2 An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c14.s7.2 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c14.s7.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c14.s7.2) The origin of miliolites which has an important palaeo-environmental and prehistoric relevance is a controversial question. Many workers have regarded their composition of marine carbonate fragments as evidence of their origin in a shallow, warm, littoral marine environment. Others have postulated that they are aeolianites—calcareous wind-blown deposits. Some have proposed that they could be of both marine and aeolian origin, the marine formations occurring near the sea coast and the aeolian ones occurring in inland situations. The inland deposits were produced by the deflation of marine carbonate deposits, exposed in the intertidal and supratidal zones of a warm, shallow sea. The deflated materials were transported inland by wind and deposited against topographical barriers. Such extensive aeolian activity, as is the case with the sand-dunes of n. Gujarat and Rajasthan \[9.2\], would have required low rainfall conditions and a slight vegetation cover possibly combined with low glacial sea-levels. Today miliolite deposits show typical honeycomb weathering on their surface. - [Previous: v1.c14.s7.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c14.s7.1) - [Next: v1.c14.s7.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c14.s7.3) - [Up: v1.c14.s7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c14.s7) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c14.s7.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c14.s7.2) · Pramāṇa