Integration of palaeobotanical (spores, pollen, phytoliths and non-pollen palynomorphs) and organic geochemical proxies, such as stable isotopes of organic carbon (δ13C) and n-alkanes, for studying the evolution and palaeoenvironmental conditions of an archaeological site are rare in India. The evolution of a protohistoric-historic site at Erenda, situated in the eastern coastal region of India, has been studied by using multiple palaeobotanical and organic geochemical proxies assisted with AMS radiocarbon dates. The excavated site lies above Late Pleistocene–Early Holocene Sijua Formation. The absence of anthropogenic evidence in the Sijua Formation likely indicates inhabitable conditions in nearshore/estuarine marshy conditions. The earliest human settlements at the excavation site begin during the first millennium BCE after the initiation of habitable conditions along the coast. The presence of fungal spores and the dominance of C4 phytolith morphotypes indicate prevailing warm and humid climatic conditions and proximity to a freshwater body. The δ13C signature and n-alkane composition indicate the use of C4 grass for the construction of the mud and clay-built huts. The settlers most likely used to consume wild or domestic variety of rice, as evidenced by the presence of bilobate scooped morphotypes. The site was partly abandoned, covered with C3 and C4 vegetation and used as a dumping ground after 663 ± 92 BCE. This implies that people continued to live in the area but possibly moved to a nearby site while using the excavated site as refuse.
Archaeological studies in the upper and lower part of the Ganga-Bhaghrathi-Hugli delta were taken up to understand the nature of site formation and human adaptation in a dynamic fluvial zone. This aspect has been neglected in Indian archaeology. However archaeological dating using typological information, has an error margin of a couple of centuries and hence, is of limited use. We suggest that high resolution chronology using Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating can be quite effective in the study of archaeology and human environment relationship in the Ganga-Brahmaputra Delta (GBD).
This study is on the absolute age dating of a multicultural site of Erenda, East Medinipur district, in coastal West Bengal, India. Charcoal samples were collected and measured using the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facility at the Inter-University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi, India. These samples were collected from secured stratigraphic context of two excavated trenches. A careful collection of samples from two trenches provided us with the first calendar dates, 950 BCE and 1979 BCE, of protohistoric sites in coastal West Bengal. These calibrated calendar dates not only have wider significance in terms of archaeology but also methodological implications to understand the relevance of application of AMS from the dynamic coastal landscape in the humid tropics during the late Holocene period.
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