Prehistoric Environment and Archaeology of the Krishna- Tungabhadra Doab

ABOUT THE BOOK The book carried out a system study of Prehistoric cultures by any geomorphic, ecological and nongraphic analogy as parameters al reconstructed the cultural process human occupation from hunter at here to early farming and colonizing stage in the Krishna Tungabhadra Doab. This region was under the threat of submergence by the Srisailam Hydro-Electric Dam project, hence as a part of salvage archeology this task was taken up. The study was done on the new discoveries and also using carrier finds so as to glean the complete picture of the cultural development. There are evidences from Lower Paleolithic to Megalithic with continuation into early historical sites in the valley occupying along the banks of the rivers. The sites are found in primary and stratified contexts, which enable to understand the development of civilization. It is a micro regional study where more emphasis was given on the Prehistoric culture besides dealing the outlines of the Neolithic and Megalithic cultures. The distribution of sites was done in relation to their topographical settings against the background of their ecology, raw materials, water source and Quarter nary deposits and established the man-land relationship within the chronological frame work.

The Quaternary deposits were found in the form of High Level Gravels and Older Alluvium, some how or other which are related to the sites that help to draw the climatic conditions and at least there were two cycles of wet and dry climatic phases during Stone Age times. The ethnographic analogy was taken from the local tribe 'Chenchus' who are living contiguous to the Prehistoric sites gave insights as regards the seasonal migrations, types of temporary dwellings, their hunting practices and food economy. Their tools kit is also very significant. to have parallels with the Stone Age tools kit. Thus the author had utilized all possible traits in reconstructing the settlement system of the Prehistoric people in the Krishna-Tungabhadra Doab.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR J. Varaprasada Rao (1955) obtained his Master’s degree in Ancient Indian History and Archaeology from the Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh(1978) and Doctorate from Deccan College, Postgraduate and Research Institute, University of Poona (1992), Pune. Employed as a Technical Assistant in Birla Archaeological and Cultural Research Institute, Hyderabad and participated in Veera-puram and Vaddamanu Excavations in A.P. and co-authored Veerapuram excavation Report (1984). Entered as Technical Assistant in Archaeological Survey of India, Hyderabad Circle and did Village to Village Survey and participated in many excavations at Kudavalli Sangameswaram, Alampur, Ghanta sala, Sannati (in Collaboration with Society for South Asian Studies, United Kingdom) in Karnataka, Amaravati and Adurru. Served in Mattancherry Palace Museum in Cochin, Guwahati Circle and presently incharge of Mini Circle, Goa. Conducted excavations at Paithan in Maharastra (in Collabo ration with Society for South Asian Studies, United Kingdom), and con ducting at Chandor in Goa. Visited France and Portugal in academic ventures. Co-Authored the books entitled 1. Veerapuram a type site for cultural study in the Krishna Valley (1984), 2. Excavations at Sannathi (1986-89) as Memoirs series 93 of Archaeological Survey of India, 3. Early Bralimi Inscriptions from Sannati (1993). Published many papers on topics like Prehistory, Coins, Inscriptions, early brick temple architecture in different national and international journals. Participated in Marine Archaeological Investigations in the waters of Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal.

FOREWORD The pioneer investigations in Kurnool district goes back to 1844 when Captain Newbold discovered Prehistoric Ossiferous Billa Surgam caves near Betamcheria followed by Captain Meadows Taylor in 1852 and 1862 King and Foote explored the region in 1865 and 1916 respectively. In the year 1880 Robert Sewell prepared the list of antiquarian remains. However Foote brought to light a number of sites and contributed significant results. Isaac (1960) did his Doctoral work on Gundlakamma on Prehistoric cultures. In early 1960's Allchin also associated with Utnur in Mahaboobnagar district and brought to light Neolithic ash mounds. Later on it drew the attention of the scholars, especially when this region had a threat of submergence under Srisailam Dam project. Several others including myself conducted village to-village surveys for antiquarian remains in the submersible areas and brought to light many sites ranging from Prehistoric to Medieval times for undertaking salvage archaeology.

Many Institutes were involved in the task of excavations at the important sites like Kudavalli, Satanikota, Veerapuram, Siddheswaram, Sangameswaram, Malleswaram, Chinnamarur, Peddamarur, Pydigutta, Karapakala etc. which revealed the evidences from early Neolithic to Early medieval periods. However, there was less impetus given on Prehistoric studies in this region. The present work in the Krishna-Tungabhadra Doab on Prehistoric cultures is an important attempt to understand the cultural process that took place in this doab so as to understand the succeeding cultures. It is an original contribution of the author after discovering the new sites and material. He had not only dealt the subject in a traditional way but also applied the latest trends of Archaeology to derive the cultural process and settlement pattern and system of the Prehistoric cultures by using geomorphic, ecological and ethnographic analogies. The present study also outlines the Protohistoric cultures of the area so as to show the continuity of human occupation from hunter-gathering stage to early colonizing zones in order to understand the man-land relationship and land use patterns. Geo-archaeological and ethno-archaeological studies are given prominence during recent times to reconstruct the past human behavior. The theoretical base and field data will help the archaeologist to make observations about contemporary communities, in order to interpret the past events of Prehistoric times.

The author has not only dealt the sites within the doab region but also considered adjoining areas for better understanding of the settlement pattern. The reference work is meticulously followed keeping up to date record. It is a commendable work of recent times in the field of Prehistory of Andhra Pradesh and deserves serious study and appreciation. I expect from the author several works of this pattern.

PREFACE The present author had an opportunity to participate in Veerapuram Excavations (1978 8 conducted by the Birla Archaeological and Cultural Research Institute Hyderabad, encouraged by the then Director of the excavations Prof. 11. Subrahmanyam, Nagarjuna University, Guntur. This area comes under the submersible area, Srisailam Hydro-Electric Dam project. Several Institutions were involved in Salvage Archaeology conducting explorations, excavations and transplantation of temples and sculptures to safer locations During our stay in Veerapuram camp, carried out explorations in the vicinity and located many Prehistoric sites on the banks of rivers Krishna and Bhavanasi. Inspired by the discoveries the present author intended to do further research in this feld. Meanwhile Prol RV Jeshi, Dr. R.S. Pappu and MD. Kajale of Deccan College, Pune visited the site Veerapuram during excavations. The author has requested Prof RV. Joshi to work under him for Ph.D. thesas. Since he was retiring soon he recommended Dr. RS Pappu to enroll me as a student.

After joining under Dr. RS. Pappu, intensive field work was taken up by covering parts of Kurnool Mahaboobnagar and Kolhapur taluks and discovered many Pre and Protohistoric sites Since the various institutions were already working in Neolithic, Megalithic and Early Historical cultures, the author had concentrated on Prehistoric cultures at micro regional level so as to bring out the complete cultural sequence of the submersible area, almost can be regarded as Salvage Archaeology. This doab has given evidences for primary, semi primary and stratified sites of Lower Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic, transition to Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic and Megalithic cultures. These sites were associated directly or indirectly with High Level Gravel formations and Older alluvium of Quaternary formations which can show man land relationships in the Doab. Besides using geomorphologic parameters, ethnography analogy was also utilized to reconstruct the settlement system of the Prehistoric cultures in the Doab.

I feel it as a great pleasure to express my gratitude to my research guide Dr. RS. Pappu for his invaluable guidance and suggestions through out my studies to bring the work to this shape. I am greatly indebted to him.

The credit goes to the Postgraduate and Research Institute, Deccan College, Pune for the facilities provided during my stay and study I am immensely grateful to Prof. S.B. Deo, Prof. RV Joshi, Prof MK Dhavalikar, Prot VN. Misra, Prof. S.N. Rajaguru, Prof. K. Paddayya, Prof MLK Murty and others who helped me in academic field on my topic. My thanks are due to Dr. DR. Raju, Dr. Ravi Kroisettar, Mr. SB Ota and Dr. P.V.C. Subbaiah, for their help in many respects.

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