An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s6.t4: 4.6.6 E. region
An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s6.t4
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4.6.6 E. region
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E. India, as defined here, comprises the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura sharing international borders and characterized physically by high mountains, large rivers with high floods, dense forests, excessive rainfall and severe earthquakes. It has a cultural individuality as well, being extensively inhabited by tribal populations. Worman, 1949, thinks that the region served as a corridor through which Neolithic celt-making techniques entered India from the e. According to Wheeler, 1959, systematic evidence from here would be crucial for the study of the development of the Indian Neolithic. Though the evidence of a Neolithic culture was reported by Lubbock as early as 1867, till the last decade research stood at the stage of surface collections and stray finds of ground and polished stone axes. These artefacts constituted the only source of the writings of Hutton, 1928, and Dani, 1960. A more systematic study in the form of organized explorations and limited excavations has been undertaken in recent years by the universities of Gauhati and Dibrugarh and other institutions.
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Surface collections of ground and polished stone tools have been reported from all Dts of Assam, among which a chance find from Bishwanath in Dt Darrang (Coggin Brown, 1917) is noteworthy. In addition three sites have been excavated (below).
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Garo Hills Dt of Meghalaya is particularly rich in sites, chipped and ground stone tools having been found in different parts (Goswami *et al.*, 1959, Dani, 1960; Sharma, 1966b). Of the explored sites the important ones are CHITRA ABRI, RENGCHENGIRI, RINGIGIRI and SELBALGIRI, the last one excavated (below). Analysis of the tools reveals the following peculiarities: (1) they are made on dolerite and are heavily patinated; (2) they can be divided into two broad groups on the basis of the technique of preparation: (a) chipped stone axes, and (b) ground stone axes, of two distinct types—shouldered celts and flat celts. The pottery is hand-made, coarse and gritty in fabric and grey, greyish-brown or dull red in colour. In Dts Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills there are reports of four stray finds of ground stone axes.
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In Nagaland most of the surface finds are from the areas inhabited by the Sema and Lhota Nagas, some of the sites being ROKIMI, KARAMI, SIROMI, LAZIMI, ITUMI and LOKHIMI. The tools have some regional peculiarities. The tool-making rock is greenstone (a variety of diorite), a fine-grained tough rock, not lending to flaking. The tools are therefore shaped by pecking and the edges are prepared by grinding. Other rocks like shale, slate, sandstone and jadeite are sparingly used, the last being not available locally, having probably been obtained from upper Burma and s. China. The commonest tool type is the rounded shouldered to quasi-tanged axe. The other common type is the triangular axe, similar to the pointed-butt axe of s. India. Quadrangular axes and adzes are rare in this area (Hutton, 1928; Dani, 1960; Sharma, 1966b; Sankalia, 1974).
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In Manipur the surface finds are on locally available rocks such as basalt, diorite, sandstone, shale, schist and quartzite. The tools are made by chipping, pecking and grinding. The technique of sawing is also employed in quadrangular axes. Shouldered axes, quadrangular axes and adzes are the common type, but triangular axes with pointed butt also occur.
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In Dts Lohit, Siang and Kameng of Arunachal Pradesh stray finds of ground and polished stone tools have been reported (Coggin Brown, 1917; Bopardikar, 1971. Goswami *et al.*, 1972). The tools are made of jadeite, not occurring locally, as well as locally available rocks like sandstone, schist and gneiss. Technologically they are divisible into (1) flaked edge-ground tools, (2) pecked and edge-ground tools, and (3) fully ground tools. Rounded-butt axes, shouldered celts and quardrangular axes and adzes are the common types.
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From Mizoram only one peculiar axe is known. It is a fully ground, thin and broad axe with perforations at the butt—a hafting device known in China.
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Only a few axes are known from Tripura. They are on fossil wood.
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Reference has been made above to three excavated sites—DAOJALI HADING in Dt N. Cachar, SARUTARU in Dt Kamrup and SELBALGIRI in Garo Hills. Situated on a densely forested hilltop, DAOJALI HADING excavated by the Gauhati Univ. during 1961-4, is a single-culture site with a deposit of 75 cm, with a large number of axes and adzes, grinding stones, querns and mealing troughs, mullers and pestles, byproduct flakes and pottery. Most of the axes and adzes are made on a kind of greyish indurated shale, there being a few on sandstone and fossil wood. The tools, fully ground and polished, are typologically divisible into tanged or shouldered celts, small triangular celts and quadrangular axes and adzes. The pottery, found only in fragments, is coarse, handmade and ill-baked, sometimes with cord mark. There is a small quantity of incised red ware of fine fabric. (Goswami *et al.*, 1963; Sharma, 1966a, 1967; Sankalia, 1974.)
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SARUTARU was excavated by the Dibrugarh Univ. during 1969-72. This too is a single-culture site of 60 cm depth, with stone tools, pottery and charcoal. The dominant tool type and pottery are the shouldered celt and cord-marked ware, comparable with those of DAOJALI HADING. (Rao, 1973).
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Situated on a hillock on the left bank of the Rongram in Garo Hills, SELBALGIRI, with tools and pottery exposed as a result of erosion, was limitedly excavated by the Gauhati Univ. While the lowest layer yielded microliths and pottery, the upper two, 42 cm thick, yielded both ground and chipped stone axes, small flakes, cores, hammers and pottery (*IAR*, 1967-68).
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How old is the Neolithic culture of e. India is not precisely known due to lack of absolute dates. It is also not possible to work out the stratigraphical and archaeological chronology of the culture as well-stratified sites are yet to be excavated. What has been said by different writers on the dates is based on typological comparison of stone tools and on cross-cultural dating method. The typological analysis of the tools suggests (1) an early phase characterized by wholly chipped and edge-ground stone axes; and (2) a late phase marked by pecked and edge-ground and fully ground tools comprising shouldered celts and quadrangular axes and adzes found in association with cord-marked pottery. The early phase, which is yet to be stratigraphically attested, appears to show some features common with the Hoabinhian culture of S.-E. Asia where it had been a food-producing culture since *c.* 10000 B.C. (Gorman, 1971). The late phase, which is stratigraphically established, shows a close affinity with that of s. China and S.-E. Asia. If the Naga Hills pointed-butt triangular axes could be taken to represent the Indian Neolithic tool technique, it may be argued that e. India served as a contact zone of e. and s. Asian Neolithic traditions.
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Allchin, B. & R., *Birth of Indian Civilization*, Harmondsworth. Bopardikar, B.P., 1972, in *Seminar Papers, Nagpur Session of Indian Arch. Soc.*, pp. 1-8. Coggin Brown, J., 1971, *Cat. Raisonné of Prehistoric Antiquities in Indian Museum*, Simla. Dani, A.H., 1960, *Prehistory & Protohistory of e. India*, Calcutta. Gorman, C., 1971, in *World Arch.*, 2, 3, pp. 300-20. Goswami, M.C., & Bhagabati, A.C., 1959, in *Jour. Gauhati Univ.*, 10, 2, pp. 105-22. Goswami, M.C., Sharma, H.C., & Das, R.C., 1972, in *Jour. Assam Science Soc.*, 15, 1, pp. 29-35. Goswami, M.C., & Sharma, T.C., 1963, in *Jour. Gauhati Univ.*, 14, 2, pp. 45-7. Hutton, H., 1928, in *Man in India*, 8, 4, pp. 228-32. Lubbock, J., 1867, in *Athenaeum*, London, 22 June, p. 822.
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Fig. 12. Neolithic tools from eastern India: 1, 2, chipped stone axe—Garo hills; 3, edge ground axe—Arunachal Pradesh; 4, flat axe; 5, shouldered celt—Garo hills; 6, pecked and grounded edge shouldered celt; 7, pointed butt axe—Nagaland; 8, 9, quadrangular axes; 10, 11, 12, square cut rectilinear shouldered celt; shouldered celts; 13, quadrangular adze—Daojali Hading; 14, splayd axe—North Cachar Hills; 15, quadrangular adze—Kamrup; 16, pecked and edge ground axe of jadeite—Arunachal Pradesh
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Rao, S.N., 1973, in *Bull. Dept. of Anthropology, Dibrugarh Univ.*, 1973. Sankalia, H.D., 1974, *Prehistory & Protohistory of India & Pakistan*, Poona. Sharma, T.C., 1966a, “Prehistoric Arch. of Assam—a Study of Neolithic Culture” (unpublished thesis); 1966b, in *Jour. Assam Science Soc.*, 9, pp. 1-11; 1967, in *Man*, N.S., 2, 1, pp. 126-8. Singh, O.K., & Sharma, T.C., 1969, in *Jour. Assam Science Soc.*, 12, pp 36-48. Wheeler, M., 1959, *Early India & Pakistan*, London, Warman Jr., E.C. 1949. in *Jour. of Washington Academy of Science*, 39, 6, pp. 181-201. For sites see respective entries in vol II.—T.C. SHARMA
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4.6.7 *N.-e. Deccan*. The Neolithic culture in this region is characterized by a coarse grit-tempered red ware, sometimes also slipped and showing incised or fingertip decoration as also an orange-brown ware and ground stone tools which include rounded or pointed butt axes, basis of the available evidence three distinct traditions, irrespective of their chronological horizons, may be defined: (i) crude handmade red ware with a microlithic element; (ii) burnished grey ware with neoliths; and (iii) painted pottery and burnished grey ware accompanied with long blades.
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Fig. 13. Neolithic tools from eastern India: 1–3, shouldered celts; 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, small celts, oval and triangular types; 8-10, quadrangular axe; 11, 12 quadrangular adze; all from Daojali Hading
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The excavations at NAGARJUNAKONDA (Sarkar, 1975), explorations at Dailmalai, Togarappalli and Mullikadu in Dt Dharmapuri (Narasimhaiah, 1976) and excavation in the lowest at T. NARSIPUR (Rao *et al*., 1974), have brought to light a crude red ware tradition, neoliths, flakes and microliths. While these sites do not necessarily disclose a uniform level of development, taken collectively they seem to antedate the cultures dominated by the burnished grey ware. The pottery from far-away LANGHNAJ appears to be similar to this ceramic tradition, while the Neolithic sites of Manbhum-Singhbhum [4.6.5.] and Mayurbhanj [4.6.7.] are a later extension of this red ware phase.
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At the sites in Dt Dharmapuri this red ware is associated with a microlithic industry, while Site 45 at NAGARJUNAKONDA representing the earliest Neolithic phase (before 2500 B.C.) reveals a short-blade microlithic industry on chert as the dominant tool tradition. A few crudely fashioned neoliths, perhaps used for tillage operation, and flakes of basalt and quartzite—an element present in all the relevant phases of NAGARJUNAKONDA—were the other components of this culture. The pottery is pale reddish-brown with a gritty surface and blackish core. The absence of animal bones or remains of pits or dwellings may suggest that the authors of this culture were nomadic food-gatherers not much conversant with domestication of animals and plants.
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Phase II (*c.* 2000 B.C.) of the Neolithic culture at NAGARJUNAKONDA seems to be an amalgam of the earlier red ware and the burnished grey ware, since the red ware dominated in the pits at Sites 46 A and 47, with a restricted quantity of handmade gritty red ware, burnished grey ware, microliths on chert and crystal, quartzite flakes, disc beads and a large quantity of animal bones. The occurrence of a good number of pits of various sizes, some of them associated with post-holes and extended inhumation burials in the cemetery located far away from the habitation site, may tend to show that the people were no longer wholly nomadic. They must have maintained large herds of cattle and some of the Neolithic tools may have been used for rudimentary cultivation. At NAGARJUNAKONDA this phase did not evolve directly out of the earlier phase, represented by Site 45, and its authors might have entered the valley from elsewhere.
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The practice of filling up of pits with stones and boulders may indicate the desertion of the settlement. In
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faceted hoes, chisels, mace-heads, pounders and grinding stones. No blade or microlithic industry is associated with the culture. Nor is there any direct evidence for the domestication of animals and plants except rice [2.2], both of domesticated and wild variety, though the occurrence of pounders and grinding stones may imply acquaintance with husbandry. The region being a cultural backwater is likely to have developed the food-producing economy later than other regions, perhaps somewhere in the last quarter of the 2nd millennium B.C.
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The principal excavated sites are KUCHAI and BAIDYAPUR (Baidipur) both in Dt Mayurbhanj.
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For sites see respective entries in vol. II.—B.K. THAPAR