pre historic man-maharashtra
June 14, 2006
Stone age man roamed in Konkan coast
BY MRITYUNJAY BOSE
MUMBAI: Stone-age man roamed in the coast of Maharashtra!
This is not just a statement, but is a result of extensive research, that proves that the Acheulian man occupied a cave at Susrondi in Palshet near Guhagar on the coastal Konkan belt of Maharashtra.
Though there have been excavations in 22 Acheulian sites across India, this is the first convincing discovery of Late Acheulian coastal cave occupation on the more than vast coastline of the country.
"The discovery of Paleolithic artefacts from a cave site in a stratified context is of great significance for deducing the chronology of Early man, related sea level and environmental changes in the Konkan region," according to Ashok Marathe of Pune-based Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute.
Dr Marathe's discovery and findings have been published in the June 2006 issue of 'Current Science' – the leading scientific journal in the country.
"What makes it more interesting is that it is Stone-age plus coast plus cave," Dr Marathe told this 'The Herald' correspondent over telephone from Pune.
Fifty-four artefacts have been collected from the site and this includes three hand axes, two cleavers, four picks, 14 choppers, 27 scrappers, two flakes and two cores.
Dr Marathe expects this to be of the range of 80,000 years to 1,00,000 years ago.
Talking about the discovery, he writes in his research paper: "The discovery of Late Acheulian cave occupation at Susrondi in Palshet near Guhagar, on the banks of a small perennial stream, near a waterfall, at a height of 85 m amsl (above mean sea level) and 2 km inland is the first of its kind on the more than 7,500 km coastline or on the Deccan plateau. On the basis of observations made on tool topology, geomorphology and lithostratigraphy, it is shown that early man occupied the cave during the early Late Pleistocene."
He also points out that during the survey an interesting and useful section was observed near Velneshwar, 12 kms from Palshet, 110 m amsl and two km away from the sea. "A well has been dug in this laterite," he points out. About the collection that he found in the Ratnagiri district, he says that these were collected from the strata at the depth of 2.7 m in a layer of 30 cm thick deposit.
"The artifacts are extremely fresh with clear flake-scars and betray razor-sharp margins. The freshness of these specimens suggests that after the desertification of the site by the early man, artifacts were preserved because of the sediment cover," Dr Marathe says and adds that the tool-kit collection points out three basic techniques – stone-hammer, cylinder-hammer and prepared-platform. The cave has developed as a result of "karstic weathering process" within the heterogenous mass of coastal laterite and later on it was occupied by man.
The observations, he said, is in concurrence with the outcome of earlier studies carried out around Ratnagiri. "The cave sediments bring to light interesting stratigraphy and contemporary paleoenvironment. The cave was occupied by the early man during the Late Pleistocene when the sea level was slightly higher than today," he said.
Dr Marathe points out: "…the prospects of achieving the record of man-land relationship are enormously tantalizing. The reconstruction of coastal environment during the early Late Pleistocene in this humid tropical part of Western India will prove innovative perception of man-land relationship in this part of India."
(This story first appeared in The Maharashtra Herald, Pune)
Stone age man roamed in Konkan coast
BY MRITYUNJAY BOSE
MUMBAI: Stone-age man roamed in the coast of Maharashtra!
This is not just a statement, but is a result of extensive research, that proves that the Acheulian man occupied a cave at Susrondi in Palshet near Guhagar on the coastal Konkan belt of Maharashtra.
Though there have been excavations in 22 Acheulian sites across India, this is the first convincing discovery of Late Acheulian coastal cave occupation on the more than vast coastline of the country.
"The discovery of Paleolithic artefacts from a cave site in a stratified context is of great significance for deducing the chronology of Early man, related sea level and environmental changes in the Konkan region," according to Ashok Marathe of Pune-based Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute.
Dr Marathe's discovery and findings have been published in the June 2006 issue of 'Current Science' – the leading scientific journal in the country.
"What makes it more interesting is that it is Stone-age plus coast plus cave," Dr Marathe told this 'The Herald' correspondent over telephone from Pune.
Fifty-four artefacts have been collected from the site and this includes three hand axes, two cleavers, four picks, 14 choppers, 27 scrappers, two flakes and two cores.
Dr Marathe expects this to be of the range of 80,000 years to 1,00,000 years ago.
Talking about the discovery, he writes in his research paper: "The discovery of Late Acheulian cave occupation at Susrondi in Palshet near Guhagar, on the banks of a small perennial stream, near a waterfall, at a height of 85 m amsl (above mean sea level) and 2 km inland is the first of its kind on the more than 7,500 km coastline or on the Deccan plateau. On the basis of observations made on tool topology, geomorphology and lithostratigraphy, it is shown that early man occupied the cave during the early Late Pleistocene."
He also points out that during the survey an interesting and useful section was observed near Velneshwar, 12 kms from Palshet, 110 m amsl and two km away from the sea. "A well has been dug in this laterite," he points out. About the collection that he found in the Ratnagiri district, he says that these were collected from the strata at the depth of 2.7 m in a layer of 30 cm thick deposit.
"The artifacts are extremely fresh with clear flake-scars and betray razor-sharp margins. The freshness of these specimens suggests that after the desertification of the site by the early man, artifacts were preserved because of the sediment cover," Dr Marathe says and adds that the tool-kit collection points out three basic techniques – stone-hammer, cylinder-hammer and prepared-platform. The cave has developed as a result of "karstic weathering process" within the heterogenous mass of coastal laterite and later on it was occupied by man.
The observations, he said, is in concurrence with the outcome of earlier studies carried out around Ratnagiri. "The cave sediments bring to light interesting stratigraphy and contemporary paleoenvironment. The cave was occupied by the early man during the Late Pleistocene when the sea level was slightly higher than today," he said.
Dr Marathe points out: "…the prospects of achieving the record of man-land relationship are enormously tantalizing. The reconstruction of coastal environment during the early Late Pleistocene in this humid tropical part of Western India will prove innovative perception of man-land relationship in this part of India."
(This story first appeared in The Maharashtra Herald, Pune)
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