 |
About Us |
|
Monuments |
|
Museums |
|
Excavations |
|
Archives |
|
Photo Gallery |
|
Right To Information |
|
Publication |
|
Plaster Casts of Masterpieces |
|
Contact Us |
 |
|
EXCAVATIONS - PROTOHISTORIC SITES
Kakrehta (1983-84, 1984-85,1985-86)
Kakrehta (long. 80° 23' E and lat 230 37'N) is a small village situated on the rivulet Suhar, a tributary of Hiran in Sihora tahsil of Jabalpur district of M.P. It is 72 km from Jabalpur, 30 km from Sihora, 7 km from Bahuriband and I Km from the Famous Minor Rock Edict of Asoka at Rapnath.
The village is situated on an ancient mound, the remains of only part of which are existing at the moment. The mound is eroded by the floods of the river Construction activities in the forms of buildings and roads have also been undertaken recently on the major part of the mound. From north to south the mound extends over one km and from east to west the remains are spread within a distance of less than half a km. The importance of the mound was, for the first time, brought to the notice of the scholarly world by C.B. Trivedi, the then Exploration Assistant of the Archaeological Survery of India in his explorations conducted during 1959-60. Subsequently explorations were conducted the UniverSities of Sagar and jabal pur and the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, M.P.
During the earlier explorations, the pottery collected from surface included blackand-red ware, NBP, grey ware, black-slipped ware red ware coarse-red-ware etc. Microliths associated with a few sherds of painted black-on red ware of chalcolithic association were also encountered. Coins collected from the surface were silver and copper punch-marked, inscribed coin of the city state ofTripuri as well as tribal coins. Keeping in view the Chalcolithic pottery found at the sites ofBhita, Patan, Nirandpur, Sakra etc., all situated in Jabalpur district and not far from Kakrehta. C.B. Trivedi opined that "the presence of these sites denotes that the Chalcolithic people pushed their route in the fertile track through the river valleys and their tributaries up to the point where it ceased to be navigable. Thereafter the land route was followed. Evidence of latter is available at Kakretha where in addition to the above-mentioned finds, agate burnishers similar to that encountered at Kausambi have been found. So far no evidence of agate bangles has been reported either from Tripuri or Besnagar. This shows that in early historical period from 3rd century BC the route was from west to east, from
Bihar (Chirand) via Koldihwa (Allahabad) and Kausambi" (Indian Archaeology-New Perspectives, 1983, p. 215).Keeping in view that pottery of Chalcolithic association was reportedly found at Kakrehta as well as nearby sites of Bhita, Patan, Nirandpur, Sakra etc. all situated in J abalpur district, the primary airm of the excavation was to know the cultural sequence of the site, especially its Chalcolithic settlement. The site being close to Rupnath, and 0n the National Highway of those times, was likely to yield important clues regarding the movements of the proto historic people in this part of the country.
The excavation was conducted under the joint auspices of the Deptl. of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, R.D. Univeristy, Jabalpur and the Directorate of Archaeology & Museums, M.P. under the Co-Directorship of Dr. R.K. Sharma, Professor and Head of the Deptt. of the Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology and VK. Bajpai Dy. Director, Archaeology and Museums, M.P. Govl. The excavations were conducted for three consecutive seasons viz. 1983-84, 1984-85 and 1985-86.
Vertical digging was conducted in eight trenches viz KRT-I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII. Of these, trench numbers KRT - I, II, IV, V, and VI measuring respectively 5m. x 8m., 3m x 4m., 5m, x 5m., 5m. x 7m. and 3m x 4m. were excavated by the Deptt. of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology. R.D. Univeristy, Jabalpur. The rest of the trenches were under the control of the Deptt. of Archaeology and Museums, M.P. Govt. The Report published is based entirely on the excavations conducted by R.D. University and the antiquities in its possession recovered from the trenches KRT -III, IV and VI. The Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, M.P. Will publish its independently.
KRT -I and KRT - II were laid on the flat area, north-eastern part of the mound during the session 1983-84, with a view (i) to know the sequence of culture at the site and (ii) to locate the Chalcolithic settlement, The former aim was achieved but there was no headway on the latter count as no trace of Chalcolithic remains could be located.
A second attempt to located remains of Chalco lithic settlement was made during the session 1984-85 when KRT-III was dug on the eastern flat periphery of the mound and KRT -IV on its central part. Both the attempts proved unsuccessful.
The pursuit for the Chalcolithic cultural remains was continued during the session 1985-86, for which two trenches viz KRT- V and KRT- VI were laid. The former trench was on the highest part of the mound, near the trench KRT- IV, and the latter was on the north-western part of the flat area on the southern bank of the river. This time the effort proved successful and KRT - V yielded a complete cultural sequence of the different periods including Chalcolithic culture and the unexpected Mesolithic culture.
A Comparative study of the stratigraphy of different trenches has revealed the following sequence of cultures at Kakrehta :
Period I (Mesolithic) : This period was brought to light only in KRT-Y. total accumulation composed of black-cotton soil was of 40 cm. thickness. The mesolithic tools unassociated with pottery comprised fluted cores plunging flakes, various types of blades, lunates, fabricators and raw material.
After Period I, the site seems to have been deserted for a considerable period. This is evidenced by a 20 em. thick deposit of sterile layer of black-cotton soil which immediately succeeded period 1.
Period II (Chalcolithic): This period too was noticed only in KRT-V. It comprised accumulation of 62.0 em thickness just over the sterile layer of black-cotton soil. It was characterised by the appearance of black-on-red pottery of thin section and fine fabric with paintings inside the pot. It was associated with microliths and copper objects, but no iron., Black-and-red ware was recovered on a large scale, of which the burnished type dominated.
Architectural activity was evidenced by post-holes and rammed mud floors.
Period III (Pre - NBP) : This period was characterised by the appearance of iron objects and pottery of new types. The total deposit was of 55 em.
Architectural activities of this period were attested by post-holes and rammed floors.
Period IV ( Pre-Mauryan) : Northern Black Polished Ware was introduced in this period. Red ware was the dominating ware. The frequency of antiquities increased.
Lime floors were introduced during this period.
Period V (Maurya-Sunga) : This period was characterised by the appearance of glass bangles, grey ware and various new antiquties. N.B.P. ware continued.
The practice of making lime floors was found discontinued. Ring-wells were introduced in the last phase of this period.
The C-14 dating of the period is 360 BC.Period VI (Post-NBP) : This period was marked by the disappearance on N.B.P. ware Black ware along with red ware was in use on large scale.
The total deposit of this period was 30 em. in thickness. The frequency of antiquities was found to have suddenly decreased.
REFERENCES
Sharma, R.K. and Mishra. S.N., Excavations at Kakrehta, Delhi 1992.
