Plant macro remains from Early Historic Vessel, Gilund, Rajasthan

Satish S. Naik ,Megan Merry Mccormick ,Amrita Sarkar ,Vasant Shinde

doi:10.5334/aa.12315

Satish S. Naik , Megan Merry Mccormick + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5334/aa.12315

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Abstract

The macrobotanical remains were recovered from the Early Historic vessel from Gilund, Rajasthan by employing dry and wet sieving techniques in the Palaeobotany laboratory. The retrieved archaeobotanical material was in carbonized and semi-carbonized state. It involves cultivated barley grains, a single cut grain of rice and a seeds of weed plant along with a bulk of wood charcoal pieces. These could survive in the carbonized state by being exposed to heat or fire. The impressions of grass leaves were found on well backed brickbats occurred in the vessel. Few molluscan shells were also retrieved during wet sieving.

Highlights

At twenty five hectares, Gilund (74°15'E; 25°01'N) is the largest of 104 reported sites of the Ahar-Banas Complex (Possehl and Shinde 2005) (FIG. 1)
It has been found that, the vessel kept in tagari was in broken state, the peripheral soil was loose and central portion was hard and compact
The large sized plant remains has been recovered by this dry sieving technique and the sieved soil samples were taken for wet sieving

Summary

Introduction

Gilund (74°15'E; 25°01'N) is the largest of 104 reported sites of the Ahar-Banas Complex (Possehl and Shinde 2005) (FIG. 1). There is no direct indication that the pot/vessel under study here came from the floor or from a pit Since it was removed in matrix with contents intact, tied together with twine, and kept in a tagari (metal basin) for further study, it is our current working hypothesis that it did not come from a pit. It has been found that, the vessel kept in tagari was in broken state, the peripheral soil was loose and central portion was hard and compact It composed of some pottery and animal bone pieces. The central hard and compact soil has been separated with the help of excavation knives into loose material It has produced three antiquities which involve worked or polished bone fragments, a partial hammer stone and a microlithic quartzite flake. The same soil samples were used for the analysis of plant macroremains

Dry Sieving

Wet Sieving

Discussion