Prehistoric Archaeology In Central - Eastern India - Jonk River

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The book emphasise on the Prehistoric Archaeology of Jonk River: a major tributary of the upper Mahanadi in the upland of Western Odisha and Eastern Chhattisgarh in Central-Eastern India. The Stone Age man life style and adaptation pattern into the local quaternary landscapes are assess by analysing the different lithic assemblages, sedimentary. contexts, settlement pattern, flora, fauna, geology, and geomorphology of the area. Prehistoric sites disovered in the Jonk River belongs to Acheulian, Middle Palaeolithic, Microlithic periods are discussed in details. The book also discuss about the lithic technology, paleo envornment, landscape, social and cognitive behaviours of the prehistoric populations of the river basin.

Tosabanta Padhan is an Archaeologist specializing in the Indian Prehistory with a particular interest in the Lithic Technology, Experimental Archaeology. Field Archaeology and Historical Archaeology. He took his PG. Dip, PhD. in Archaeology from Deccan College, Pune, India. He completed his second Masters in Quaternary & Prehistory from Instituto Polytechnique de Tomar, Universidade de Trás-os Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal. He has published more than a dozen Research papers in reputed national and international Journals and presented 23 Research Papers in various seminar and conferences. He has received prestigious H.D. Sankalia Young Archaeologist Award from Indian Society for Prehistoric and Quaternary Studies (ISPQS). He is actively involved in Archaeology since more than a decade, conducted field research across the country. He has participated field work projects in Europe, and Africa continent. He had taught Archaeology at North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) from 2013-2015, and is currently teaching as an Assistant Professor in the department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the Adi-keih College of Arts and Social Sciences, of Asmara, Eritrea (North-East Africa).

The Paleolithic archaeology of the Indian Subcontinent is an important paleoanthropological record of hominin dispersals and adaptations in Asia. Unfortunately. this region does not receive as much research attention as other parts of the Old World This is a pity because the South Asian record is critical to linking the regional Eurasian records of hominin behavior and understanding the evolution of, arrival of and interaction between archaic populations and dispersing modern human populations. Recent research has pushed back the ages of many of these milestones in Asia and has further highlighted the importance of the South Asian landmass in human evolution. For example, the oldest Acheulean and Middle Paleolithic records outside Africa are now known from India, although associated hominin fossil evidence is still lacking. As the fossil evidence of modern humans and related parallel and/or regional evolution is growing (e.g. new sites from Israel, China, Sumatra, Australia) and also becoming older, India may have a much larger role to play in global human evolution than we have guessed thus far. The region may not only have served as a biogeographic corridor but also as a possible geographic source of specific technologies dispersing to other parts of Eurasia.

I first became aware of Tosabanta Padhan's interest in the Paleolithic many years ago when we met at Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, Pune. At the time, he had yet to select his doctoral study area but one thing was clear from his side - it will be in eastern India. I fully supported him in his decision, which he did not deviate from despite his long journeys abroad for study purposes and within India for archaeological fieldwork in other regions. Indeed, this diverse and valuable experience in Europe (through the Erasmus Mundus program) of seeing new types of prehistoric sites and lithic assemblages, combined with his vast field experience on different Indian landscapes, led to the successful completion of his doctoral work. Although Padhan has published his research results in journals and presented the data at some conferences, this volume does proper justice to the topic as well as the large amount of data generated by him.

The Book is based on Archaeological field work carried out in Jonk River basin (a tributary of river Mahanadi), flowing through western Odisha and Eastern Chhattisgarh. The field work was carried out in between 2007-2012. This work is centred on author's doctoral research, which was submitted, in 2013, to Department of Archaeology, Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute, Pune. The book is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter introduced the region and discussed about the objective of the Research project and research methodologies followed for field and laboratory analysis of lithic assemblages. The chapter also briefly focused on the review of previous work conducted so far in the river basin. The second chapter gives background information about the river system, environmental setting, geology, geomorphology, soil, flora and fauna of the region. Besides this the chapters also focus on the ethnography of the Western Odisha and Eastern Chhattisgarh. The third chapter's in the beginning deals the results of field investigations and findings followed by application of remote sensing techniques to understand the geomorphology, landform, site distribution pattern, and vegetation pattern of Palacolithic sites in the study area. The fourth chapter deals the results of the analysis of lithic assemblages. The chapter is divided into two parts Le. Acheulian and Middle Palaeolithic, Sites belong to the respective periods are described with detailed typo-technological characteristics of the sampled assemblages. Each tool types are discussed and interpreted according to the recorded technological features. The fifth chapter deals with the description of microlithic sites and analysis of the typology, technology and raw material of the discovered microlithic sites. All the sites are also listed in a table explaining types of tools found at each site followed by a figure of raw material variability and use. Each major type is discussed in detail to understand the nature, characteristic and occurrence patterns at the sites. The sixth chapter deals with the Prehistoric settlement pattern of Upper Mahanadi basin with particular reference to Jonk river basin which reveals 61 Stone Age sites discovered during the field investigations. The chapter vividly looks into the settlement pattern and subsistence strategy of the Palaeolithic and microlithic community of the Jonk river basins. The chapter seven follow the discussion of the results and presentation of the conclusions, and briefly summarise each Stone Age periods their characteristic features and findings along with geomorphological and sedimentary context. The chapter further proceeds with discuss on several Archaeological issues of the studied area and forwarded with the limitation of the research and future perspective that can be undertaken in the near future.