An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v2.c44.127

v2.c44.127

Considering the vastness of the site, its known antiquity and political and religious importance, all that has been said above about previous explorations is archaeologically jejune and unsatisfying unlinked with the present-day developments in Indian archaeology. However in 1950 the writer undertook on behalf of the ASI the scraping of a part of the 6 m high section cut by a stream at the foot of the Vaibhāra hill at the outskirts of the inner defences of Old Rājagṛha. Above the natural conglomerate are two deposits of riverine clay with occasional shapeless sherds overlain by a thick pebble bed. Real occupation starts at the site with the appearance of the NBPW [11.16] and black and grey wares of the same shapes as those of the NBPW. The earlier phase of the NBPW-bearing deposits has revealed a previously unknown type of burials. Half-oval pits with elliptical bottoms and short funnels still below have been found dug into the earth. The funnels are filled with clay (in two cases stone blocks are also placed), and the unbaked ‘jars’ thus improvised are filled with bone bits and ashes collected after cremation. In one case a thin slab of stone is used to seal the pit, the slab being again covered with a thin deposit of gravel. The NBPW and the associated wares continue till about the middle half of the height of the section but gradually become coarser. The upper layers show three successive road consolidations. The NBPW gives way to the red ware, some of them of shapes known from other sites to belong to the 2nd century B.C. to the beginning of the Christian era. Of the other objects are a terracotta animal figurine, coeval with the early phase of the NBPW, with circlets, punched on the body, a bird figurine with plumage indicated by incised lines and the torso of female figurine with drapery clinging to the body.