Deccan College

Bhartiya Itihas Sankalan Samiti

Satara

Maharashtra

Pendam

Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth

River Krishna

Brahmi

Vasant Shinde

Maharashtra’s cultural heritage was enriched by a premier excavation indistrict by a team from Deccan College and Bhartiya Itihas Sankalan Samiti (). The 2,000- year-old artefacts recovered at the Limb village talk of a cultural continuity that has seeped into the present era, believe the excavators. Major findings include a coin from the Satavahana period, fragments of jewellery and pots besides rice grains and pulses.The diggings, which began on December 20 last year, came to an end in early February. Amit, research assistant at the Deccan College, led a team of three PhD scholars and 49 MA students from the college, thus exposing the aspiring archaeologists to essential fieldwork. Anita Agashe, Indology researcher from the, was co-director of the project.The excavation site was located on the banks of the, where three trenches of 5X5 metres were laid. A major and only numismatic find was a coin from the Satavahana period, which helped in dating the artefacts more accurately.“The lead coin is comparatively rare to find as silver and copper ones were common. One side of the coin is inscribed with the name of the King in thescript, ‘Rayosri Satakarni’ and on the other is a swastika and an elephant,” Pendam added.The team found brick structures which were probably part of a house from either the first or second century AD, fragments of shell bangles worn by women and a common feature across country from early historic period were available. Beads of stone, glass and areca nut shaped beads made of terracotta were found as well.“The flooring was laid with brickbats at first and a layer of lime and husk was placed on top of it. We also stumbled across fragments of globular pot made of red ware and red slip ware which was in all likelihood used to store grains. Also, miniature bowls made of black and red ware were found at the site,” Pendam added.Speaking on choosing the site after preliminary exploration, Pendam shared that there are many 17th and 18th century Peshwa temples in the area.The excavation has yielded close to six gunny backs of pots, besides cattle bones and grains of rice and pulses. The samples are currently being analysed by archaeo-botanists to shed more light on what the villagers then ate and grew, besides suggesting domestication of cattle in the area., vice-chancellor of Deccan College, said, “The findings will help in reconstructing and understanding the culture of the people. The retrieved pots suggest that the technique employed in making them 2,000 years ago hasn’t changed today. Even the crop pattern seems to have remained unchanged, grains of rice, sorgum, cotton, millet and wheat have been found, which are still grown and consumed in the region. Cattle bones indicate domestication was common, but further analysis is required to determine if cattle was consumed by the people in the region or not.”