An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v2.c29.126

v2.c29.126

**Baidyapur** (21°46'; 86°42'), Dt Mayurbhanj, in the valley of the Burhabalang in Sadar Subdivision, a small village on the slope of a high land formed of lateritic soil with a thick mantle of alluvium or loose earth on top. The occurrence of polished stone implements in the paddy-fields of the village was first reported in 1923-4 by P. Acharya (*ASI—AR 1923-4*, p. 100) and thereafter surface explorations by the Calcutta Univ. and the ASI have yielded from the site a large number of neolithic [4.6.4] artefacts in different stages of manufacture. The industry is particularly important because of its association with a coarse pottery. The tools are generally made of phylite and consist of celts of various types, adzes and conical hammer-stones besides shouldered celts of rectilinear type, the latter demonstrating a cultural link with e. India [4.6.6] and s.-e. Asia. Two different tool-making traditions, common to e. India, existed side by side. The first tradition marked by chipping and pecking over the entire surface and grinding restricted to the cutting edge only indicates an early stage of the Neolithic culture. The second tradition belonging to the later Neolithic complex consists of fully ground and polished tools with straight sides and trapezoidal or rectangular transverse section.