Neolithic and Post Neolithic Cultures of Odisha

Contents: Foreword. Preface. Introduction. 1. Neolithic and post neolithic cultures of Odisha: an outline. 2. The study area and present environment. 3. Neolithic culture of Northern Odisha. 4. Metal agculture and technology in Northern Odisha. 5. Early historic archaeology of Northern Odisha. Summary and conclusion. Bibliography. Index. Although many scholars have carried out work on different aspects of the prehistoric and historic archaeology of Odisha, no such studies have given emphasis on the cultural evolution from the Neolithic to the Early History. Hence the book Neolithic and Post-Neolithic Cultures of Odisha with special Reference to Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar Districts is an attempt to show the cultural evolution from Neolithic to early Historic culture of Northern Odisha which is responsible for the emergence of a complex society in this region. The book has been divided into five chapters along with an introduction summary and conclusion. It provides a detailed analysis of the findings along with some supporting site maps sketches and photographs. Analysis of different tool components on the basis of the recovered lithic tools from different eco-zones is an important aspect of this work. This book also contains two experiments relating to the Neolithic stone tool making techniques and their use. Besides the emphasis has also been given to study the copper age sites of this region. Analysis of metal technology which is an important aspect of human cultural evolution is made to reconstruct the ancient iron smelting technology of the region. The book also contains a data base of early historic findings. Apart from this an attempt has also been made to reconstruct the early historic culture of this region. (jacket)