Lecture 15: Major surveys in Archaeology: A case study

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:16]Namaskar. Welcome to the SAM course, an introduction to field archaeology methods and practices. This is model number three of method of archaeological exploration and today lecture number five of this model entitled major survey in archaeology a case study. So today we are going to see a one singular survey which is conducted by our team in megayithic sites which is situated in Vindha region and we took this survey as a case study of today's presentation. So the area of survey was Mirapur Uttar Pradesh and the name of site is Dantari.

[00:00:56]So the area of Vinda which is very much important in the megalithic context of India and the area is completely hilly uh having uh the very rigid and steeped formation where we are having the several chains of hills and hillocks and undulating landscape. This area is very diverse and rugged topography made up several stone including granite n sandstone and others. This area is very vast and running east to west measuring about near about 320 kilometers in the belt of northern India. The geographical area eastern side situated by the uh bounded by the valley of Karmanasa and towards the uh to the Paswani Mandakin river which is our area of study and when we see the Vindha area in the incomplete so it start with the Core of Bihar Kaimur Hills and goes up to the river of Madhya Pradesh and uh district like Caillamur Sasaram of Bihar Chandu Vayanasi, Mirapur, Sonbadra, Praagaraj of UP and Reva, Chutrakut and Bandha of MP are a few uh major portion which we are covering in this uh area.

[00:02:20]But our main focus would be the Mirzapur region. So this is the study area where the red dot is showing our area of study known as a Dantari. The name of the site is Dantari Hill because there is a hill and the megatic structures are situated on along the hill. So this is uh again you can see the location of site which we conducted survey and the topography is completely barren landscape andulating surface completely covered with the stones. So why we chose this area and this project? So the first of all it is very much limited archeological work has been conducted and uh whatever exploration or excavation has been done the only reporting of the site was made majorly uh we are having the sites are abundantly found. However, only a few sites much which were excavated and uh this site was excavated way back in 1960s70s and very difficult to locate these sites their nature and habitation mounts.

[00:03:27]We're also facing lacking of prior systematic exploration and and excavation in this area of Miraapur. We don't have any of the publication report of excavation or exploration to give us any idea about how the megatic structure was situated.

[00:03:44]What kind of structures are there? What types are there? And what the date and coy? No, we don't have any kind of data and based on this very limited nature of film seed data, we are not getting the clear picture of meatic culture of vinda as it is already established in viharba and south India where the rigorous research has been done.

[00:04:10]So owing to this limitation we uh have some aim in our mind uh to understand uh to get the clear picture of this megatic horizon. Then we have identification and documentation documentation of megatic sides and megatic burials. Understand the megatic typology. What kind of typology these people are having particularly the burials one to see the distribution pattern of megatic sites uh seeing the preferred area of megatic symmetry which area has been chosen and updating the vinden megatic database under new findings and mapping. So whatever exploration or survey we will we are doing we need to create a database for further action. So these are our aims uh of the project and owing to this aim we started looking the historical research of this area and when we uh when we going through the historical record we saw that the site and the exploration was conducted way back in 1867 the first megalithic was reported by Lelay Mazir in near Chunar area. He not only reported the megalith but also excavated a few. In 1871, Sir Alexander Kunningham reported the megalith in the misapur. In 1883, ACL Carile discovered the megaliths in the area. And in 1911, Colonel Riet Carak and Quagba explored the site and excavated two megaliths. So these are the a few references which we find in the British period. And this is the earliest sketch of megaliths which was made by lay mazia in 1867.

[00:05:57]And this is the uh the earliest u typological feature which he created.

[00:06:03]Then after independence uh the some speed in this subject has taken place.

[00:06:11]1962 it was Alabad University under the leadership of professor GR Sharma and his team visited this area of Chandoli and Mirazapur and identified several megatic sites. In 1962 uh he excavated a mega site as Kakura at Chandoli area. At the same time, Banavasindu University also took interest in this area and excavated mega megalithic burials at Banimillia and Behra. Then in 1974, uh, Vid Mishna from Malabad University explored the area and discovered a few megalithic sites. 1985 PC Pand reported a few sites in Karmana river basin. Then 1980 Vidi Mishra explored a few sites and also excavated a few in the Adwa valley of Miraapul district uh and part of Raa. In 1990 uh BHU has explored the area and excavated one megalith in the Chunar area and recently 19 2022 one of the PhD fellow Shri Mukkesh Kumar has also explored the area and claimed to discover several sites in this vicinity.

[00:07:25]So this shows that there is a research right from the colonial period. But what we see there is no systematic excavation or exploration has been conducted. The excavations took taken out by GR Sharma and AK Narin had never been published and only a few pages of data is available and based on this prim work we couldn't understand the exact nature types and the the picture of Megati culture of Vinda. So therefore we started to investigate this area and identify one side known as a Dantari hill. This hill is a is a main of our case study. Situated in the Chunar block of Miraapul district which is situated 50 kilometers of Midapul district and 15 km from Chunar and 45 km from Vanasi. This hill is a small hill having the area near about 2.60 km east west and 1.770 km north south. This having surrounded by the perennial river like a pajini and all jargo and the small river Nalas are situated in between of this hillog and after surveying this site what we understand that this is one of the biggest site in the Midapur area. So this is general view of the site and this is Dantari hill a small hillog and meals are situated in such a kind of barren land. So you can identify that how this area is uncultivated or barren and you can see the posity of trees and vegetation. So such kind of uh landscape has been chosen by Megatic Builder for symmetry and this is the uh river near flowing known as a uh patchbahini.

[00:09:20]So to survey this whole uh site we adopted a few methodology that is known to unknown. So we explored the previously reported meatic sites of the area to understand the typology and their location, landscape pattern and all. And then we visited very traditionally we also uh started village to village survey in this area and then village to survey we we identified this Dantari hill. We also have a survey through the topo sheets and we use the modern data as well like a Google Earth and QGS uh for to identify the sites and all.

[00:10:01]So this is the area which we explored here and uh this is our case study Dantari hill having no near about 482 megalith and apart from that we also explored the other areas like a manapar bahira saktesgar titapar and so that all having the same typological megalithic burial symmetries. So this is a photo taken from Google Earth showing how the Zantari hill megaliths are uh uh are established at the hill. So these are these roundest features are megalithic burials. This al you can view from your naked eye. So there are hundreds of burial situating close to each other.

[00:10:49]And for documenting such kind of large area we have initiated one basic format to document each megalith. So that we have given the each number we have given number to each megalith that is known as a megalithic unique ID and we also giving detail of type what type of megalis whether it's a cane cyst miner dolman etc. its location, its latitude and longitude that geographic uh situation is very much important. The mega measurements of megalithic east, west and north, south. The average stone size which used for the construction of megalysis, we also uh recorded that. And then if we are having cyst inside the megalysis, then what kind of cyst is there? it having a chamber or it having a capstone what its size and if you can identify if orientation. So such kind of uh detailed documentation should be measured. Also associate findings are also reported like a pottery, stone disc, iron objects and microlithic if any and most importantly what is the condition of the site? The megalithic it it is intact, partially intact or disturbed or completely disturbed. So uh while mentioning this condition we identify that there are number of megalithes has been disturbed by the modern people which uh and several megaliths are now vanished due to several activities. So let's see uh the megalithic pattern of uh this Dantari hill and our survey. So we have given unique number to each megalis and the number was wrote on the stones of the megalysis and then we have all geocord descriptions.

[00:12:48]We also use a theoloid and other survey uh method to give exact location deposit and its landscape analysis and we measure each and every megalis at the hill. The elevation also uh we uh measured.

[00:13:10]Then after after surveying we come to know that there are types of megalith known as a cane, cyst and main head. So these are the main type and among these three types cane is a superior and most and prominently found in this symmetry.

[00:13:28]So the the highest number of megatic burials are in the arecome to the cane uh type and the cane is a basically the heap of stone found over the ground and which is made of loose sandstone which are easily available. So these are the cane type of megalith. They are often situated close to each other. This is just a heap of stone uh with mud.

[00:13:57]Sometimes they are big in size, sometimes they are small in size. So this is this is the main type of megalith found all over the Mirzapur and especially the Dantare hill. So this is again a cane we can find that the deposit of the cane is quite high and this is the scale which we mentioned in our previous lecture. Without scale you couldn't understand the exact side size of this megalis. So it show that this is the 1 m scale. So this mega is more than 4 m in diameter and having deposit over a meter. So such an deposit of over a meter shows that there's something hidden inside this cane and that must be the cyst. So this cyst within the cane known as a cyst within cane type. This is the subtype of cane. Though their number of number are relatively less as compared to cane. This is again made of loose stone with the they're also having the capstone to cover the this chamberl like of cyst and the sandstone most probably most abundantly used for the construction. So this is the capstone which giving us an idea that there there is a cyst uh situated beneath the stone and therefore this known as a cyst within cane. You can also see this is the cyst situated within the cane. Although the capstone is missing here but this open chamber kind of structure known as a cyst is is a again peculiar type of the vindan megarithic complex. Then the third type which we discovered for the first time known as a main hills. Main is a standing stone but here no independent manhill as such found yet and the most of the main hill are found inside the cane and therefore we call them mainhill within kane. So this is again very less in number only a few has been reported in the dantari hill. This is made of sandstone and this is found like this situated inside at the megalithic burials. So this scale giving us the exact um idea about the height.

[00:16:13]This is the 1 m. So this is the over a meter deposit of the megalithic barrier.

[00:16:19]So this is our site and therefore we documented each and every megalith of this site and here this map is showing near about 482 megalith has been documented by us. We give a number to each and every megalith and based on that such kind of rigorous exploration uh survey was conducted. We uh divided the site into five cluster based upon the geohysical condition of the hill and the typological differences. So there are five main localities locality number A, locality number uh B, locality number C, locality number D and locality number E. You can you can see that locality number D having the maximum uh number of megalith situated. So out of 482 megalis near about 420 megalith are situated in the uh cluster number D and followed by the cluster number B where the 43 numbers of mega situated. Then cluster number A, C and E having the uh numbers of 6, 11 and 2 respectively.

[00:17:37]So this is the map and this is the placement of megatic burial. So we actually we done rigorous survey and we also given uh number to each megalis and also pointed out the exact geo coordinates. So based on the geio coordinates we make this prepared this map and this map shows how this megatic burials were situated close to each other and sometimes they are situating adjacent to each other showing some kind of clustering uh is been identic.

[00:18:12]It also been noted that the most of the time you can see this green area is completely avoided. This green area is not uh occupied by megatic builder for symmetry. So possibly these people were were know that this is the uncultivated land and megatic burial lies there for thousands of period. Therefore the cultivation land has been avoided deliberately and such kind of barren landscape was chosen for the symmetry.

[00:18:43]So when we see the cluster wise uh distribution I already mentioned the cluster number D having the highest number of megatic sides followed by cluster number B cluster number C A and E. Let's see the other interesting feature which brought to light by our survey and we can see that the whole 482 megal is having the three main types the cane cane with the cyst and cane with the main. So Kane with a cyst having the uh outnumber number near about 420 megalith are found in this type followed by cane with a cyst and only six numbers has been observed in the type of minir.

[00:19:25]So this typological variation shows that Kane was a most popular type in identic builders of Dantari followed by Kane with cyst and cane with the main. So this is the again the same map. However we added a new types into it. So this mega is showing the white color are the maximum number of canes and the red one is a cane with a cyst and which is having the 56 number and six is in the uh orange color uh having the main hits.

[00:20:03]So this kind of distribution is is conducted through the uh survey made by us. So we also measured size each and every megalysis and based on the size of megalith we also derived an conclusion that so uh there are three types of uh size we measured the large uh megalith they're having the size about 10 m medium size of megalis which is having 5 to 10 m circumference and small megalis which having 1 to 5 m diameter. So what we observe that the small number of megal is having near about good amount of distribution. However the medium size which ranging between 5 to 10 m having the maximum number of megalith as compared to the smaller size also the larger size. So that shows that this size was most preferable type by the megatic variant. Hence we are having the outnumber types outnumber types of megalith in this style. We have also documented the elevation of megalysis.

[00:21:19]And while documenting the elevation what we observe here that the megaliths are situated in different elevation the elevation and what would be the most preferred elevation when we see so this elevation of 100 to 105 is the ground level 105 to 100 is the just above the ground 5 m and this is the 110 to 125 m.

[00:21:46]So this is the generally a slope of hill here generally a slope of hill where the maximum number of megalis has been situated. So this people has has a special preferred area where the slight undulation was there and above that slight undulation the maximum number of megaliths were erected.

[00:22:09]We also measured the condition of the megatic burials. we have uh different categories like the intact, disturbed and completely disturbed. So when we documented meal of each and every uh one of them so most of the megalith were disturbed. So this blue color shows that a maximum number of megaliths are disturbed. There are various reason for that. The human native people they are escaping or excavating the megalith for for excavating a treasure hunt kind of feature. Also several rock queries were uh situated near the area. They also excavate the portion for extracting the rocks and the development features development factors of modern government are also uh distract several megalith.

[00:23:05]So what we saw near most of the megalis has been disturbed. However there are a few which are intact also the partially intact as well. So based on that we we come to know that now we reported 482 megalis but at the initial stage there could be the more and more number of megalic could be erected at the dantari hill. So this kind of human destruction we visit we have witnessed in the Dantar hill such kind of these both the megalith are excavated by villages to extract the valuables from the uh megalith. These people understand these people believe that this is the a treasure hunt area where some kind of valuable has been buried by the ancient people. So therefore they excavated this and extract some kind of data and maximum number of megaliths are are open or disturbed by this motives. We also see such kind of canes were also been exposed open by modern villages. Uh let's move towards the material culture.

[00:24:14]While while serving the area this kind of disturbed burial giving us a kind of material cultural remains in form of pottery and the pottery is basically redear burial pottery is not fine uh not having sle and very basic shapes has been observed. Uh the shapes are basically a was bowel and some kind of pedestal bowels were also find in the vicinity.

[00:24:45]Uh very interestingly apart from pottery many burials at the dantari hill are giving us a idea about the presence of microlis. Initially we saw this could be the accidental features but when we explored the area more systematically and micro level we observed that so there were microlith associated with the megalith and possibly the megalithic people could have utilized such kind of micrololis and they buried this micolith along with the burial. So therefore this kind of disturbed burials which was disturbed by modern people has such kind of micrololis found all across the deposit.

[00:25:32]Not only the burial only giving us the idea of micrololis but the other area near the burial also saw such kind of activity. So it could be possible that the right from the Mesolithic people this area was used as a preferred landscape or preferred site for living and then subsequently Megatic builders were also utilized microlith for their uh daily lifestyle uh and to possibly to for hunting as well. So we are having the uh chalidoni agate kind of uh stone which was used uh for tool preparation and these tools are similar to found at the adha valley of Madhya Pradesh showing a long uh parallel blades and crystal dish dish technique was similar in whole vindan area.

[00:26:28]uh this area is again uh very much potential for rock art. As I mentioned that the micrololis could have been started right from the Mesolithic people and Mesodic people while they are living in the area they were also started expressing their art in form of paintings. So we are having the rock paintings at the hilog and such kind of rock painting showing though it's it's it's multi-pery rock painting could be started right from the molithic but we also observe the megalithic paintings are are present at the dantari hill. So there is a small uh natural cave measuring near about 25 m east west and have a height of 6.3 m where more than 35 rock paintings we documented and diverse theme are present in the painting. However the most of the times we are found the humans animals horse riders warrior war scene and other symbolic lines and inscriptions are found. So shows that this cave was utilized for a quite a longer period of time and generally dark red ochre color.

[00:27:41]This is dark red ochre color the hematide uh which is often usually available at the area and was utilized for the paintings and the paintings could be datable to the misolithic megalithic and the early historic.

[00:27:56]So we start our survey from Dantari Hill and while exploring the area right now we are having more than 200 site including the earlier reported site and some kind of rigorous survey in the one specific region shows that this area of Vinda is a is a very important pocket of Megati culture and this kind of sites and this number of bur shows that once upon a time this mega Arthic people were living close to each other and giving most preference to the merchary practices and these sides showing the thousands number of megaliths. So this is emerge as one of the important megatic complex in Indian archaeology.

[00:28:42]So while surveying a specific site and the region the when we see about the survey so this dantari shows that rich and antique occupational history near about 500 megalith at the one side shows that the continue extensive activity for a longer period of time. Possibly the availability of water in form of perennial to uh the river river nalas shows could be this area was most preferred for custom and ritual related to the mortary practices. Different types of megaliths were observed here.

[00:29:20]Uh like a geoysical uh setting is very important which giving us uh giving them the resources like a stones, hematite and possibly iron for their daily uh lifestyles.

[00:29:38]We're also having the uh other minerals could have been iron was particularly used by this people and therefore the this kind of megalith indicate that this area was a active as a active separate landscape for the people where the number of generation could have been engaged in the mortary practices and shows the longtime burial symmetry. So our survey has brought to light new megatic sites. We understand the typology and preferred types. We also know where the most preferred location was chosen for the burials and their clusters and different size of megalis has been observed by our survey. So what is the outcome of our survey? We not only uh explored and reported the site but we also published the our data to acknowledge our work also to share our work to the archeological community. So this is recently published book of our survey priyan protach archeology of chunar where we we have given us uh detail of our survey right megalithic microlithic and rockard which is published from bar publication London.

[00:30:53]Not only that we are also published a several uh uh article research article in man and environment puratua and other reputed journal to highlight our discoveries and we are also spreading the awareness about the megati complex of uh this area. So uh we definitely uh say that the area of dantari is very area of dantari and the mirzapur is very much important for our work. This is the end of my presentation. Thank you.