About the Book Horizontal excavations were conducted at Navdatoli, opposite Maheshwar on the Narbada, M.P. jointly by the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda and the Deccan College during the years 1957-9. These excavations have brought to light a village, the antiquity of which goes back, on the evidence of several carbon-14 dates, to a period ranging from 1600 B.C. to 1300 B.c. And for the first time, we are having an idea of a Chalcolithic village with its settlement pattern, agricultural economy, stone industries and beautiful pottery!
Foreword In the foreword to the first joint publication of the Department of Archaeology, the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda and the Deccan College, it was said: "Archaeological excavation and its adequate publication are not only expensive, but also need an amount of trained staff. Particularly is this true of India, where public interest is not sufficiently aroused, and hence raising of large funds and the availability of personnel is always a problem for research institutions and universities. Co-operation between various institutions and co-ordination of efforts in any discipline is a prime necessity.. It was with this idea that the Maharaja Sayajirao University and the Deccan College Post-graduate and Research Institute came together in 1952-in fact, since the inception of the Department of Archaeology in the M. S. University in 1950, these have been working in close co-operation-on a hitherto neglected problem of Indian archaeology. The aim of this joint venture, the first of its kind in India, was to test the truth of the antiquity of Mahishmati and its relation to the problem of colonization of the Narmada valley by the Aryan, or better Puranic tribes."
Preface Navdatoli, a small boatsman village, on the Narbada, opposite Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh, is now fairly well known in archaeological literature. After a successful excavation here by the first joint expedition of the Universities of Bombay, Baroda, and Poona and the former State of Madhya Bharat in 1952-53. a large, horizontal excavation was organized in a similar way, with a view to getting fuller knowledge of the Chalcolithic Culture brought to light by the earlier excavations and to discovering more links with Western Asia, and particularly Iran in 1957, 58, 59.
Introduction In the former report! the antiquity of Maheshwar has been discussed in detail. but only a brief reference was made to Navdatoli. It may be recalled that both these sites lie respectively on the northern (right) and southern (left) bank of the Narbada, and on one of the most important and ancient crossings over the river in a journey from the north to south.
Book's Contents and Sample Pages
