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kanmer

Kanmer: Ancient Village or Settlement in India

Distribution and concentration of the sites of Sarasvati-Sindhu civilization

Excavation revealed that the Kanmer site had been surrounded by large walls of stone.

The Indus civilization (2600 BC - 1900 BC) is one of the four great ancient civilizations. It is known for its cultural and technological achievements—its characteristic seals and scripts, fortified settlements and sewage systems—and also for its brief tenure. Indus cities and culture spread over 680,000 km2 along the Indus and Ghaggar rivers and into Gujarat in Western India, yet its urban phase lasted for only 700 years, a much shorter period than any of its contemporaries. Drawing on archaeology, Indology, and paleo-environmental study, project members compose social and environmental histories of several Indus civilization cities in order to determine whether environmental factors were the cause of their short life and rapid decline...

See decoding of Seal impressions of Kanmer.

Major Achievements

Excavations at Kanmer and Farmana have been immensely successful. In addition to uncovering a number of structures, including a citadel with rock walls (photo 2) and diverse artefacts, excavation teams found three pendants with Indus script (photo 3) and other Indus seals with and without Indus script. These artifacts provide important data for continued efforts to decipher the Indus writing system. In Farmana, where buildings made of sun-dried bricks were found in previous excavations, a large-scale burial ground was discovered (photo 1) as were grains of rice, which have rarely been found in Indus sites. Each of these findings makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the society, culture and subsistence system of the eastern Indus...


The identical Indus seal is stamped on one side of each pendant and different lettered script is found on the reverse.

Simulation based on bathymetric data suggests that Indus period sea level was about two meters higher than in present day Gujarat. If correct, the cities which are currently found inland would have earlier been located along the coast.

Future Activities

Major excavations at the sites in Kanmer and Farmana were completed in 2008. The activities of MCRG members now shift to the analysis of obtained data. As of 2009, principal field activities will involve core sampling at Rara Lake and in the Maldives that may confirm our hypotheses of the Ghaggar and Gujarat sites. SSRG will carry out pollen and pitholith analysis on data already obtained from the excavations. Several human bones were discovered in the Farmana excavation, and a new research group specializing in DNA analysis will be formed for their analysis. In sum, our efforts are now directed towards synthesis of the findings of individual research groups in order to develop a robust description of the climate and subsistence systems of the Indus period. Source: http://www.chikyu.ac.jp/rihn_e/project/H-03.html

19th Congress of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association (IPPA), Hanoi, 29th November - 5th December 2009

Abstract

EXCAVATION AT KANMER, GUJARAT, INDIA

Kharakwal, J.S. Institute of Rajasthan Studies, JRN Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Udaipur, India
Rawat, Y.S. State Department of Archaeology, Gujarat, India
Osada, Toshiki Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto. Japan

Kanmer (Bakarkot), a multicultural site, is located in Rapar tehsil of Kachchh district of Gujarat, India. Our controlled excavations have yielded five-stage cultural sequence at the site. Period I (i.e. Kanmer I) was marked by coarse and fine varieties of Red Ware, the latter often painted in bichrome. The charactristic Anarta material of course appears in the upper levels of this brown sandy clay deposit. Kanmer II (or Period II) is  characterised by residential structures and a strong fortification associated with the Harappan material similar to the urban phase of Dholavira. The bichrome and monochrome  pottery of Kanmer I, particularly one with a greyish or blackish surface,
gradually disappears in these levels whereas Anarta types continue. A large variety of Red Ware (e.g., Red Slipped, Black Slipped, Cream, Buff, Reserve Slipped, Coarse Red Ware and Local Ware) is predominant in this phase. Apart from these, Black-and-Red Ware and Reserve Slipped ware have also been found. This deposit is further divided into Kanmer II A and II B on the basis of appearance of new material, i.e.,Ahar type white painted Black-and-Red and Gritty Red Ware in Kanmer II B. Besides pottery, a variety of beads of semi precious stones, drill bits, rough outs and raw material, beads of faience, terracotta and paste, gold and shell and weights, seals, seal impressions, terracotta cakes and dices also mark the Harappan deposit. The remains of Kanmer III were identified as Late Harappan, which were found resting directly upon the urban phase settlement without any distinct cultural break. It appears that during this post-urban phase people did not maintain the fort wall, though several pottery types continue with some change in shape and surface treatment.


The site was reoccupied by the Early Historic (Iron Age) people after the desertion of the Harappans. Their deposit has been identified as cultural period Kanmer IV. During this period a variety of Red Ware including Red Polished Ware, Rang Mahal type Red Ware, Roman Amphorae and some West Asian pottery has been found at the site. A number of potter's kilns belonging to this period were discovered in the south central part of the mound. The last cultural level i.e., Kanmer V belonging to the Mediaeval period, was marked by residential structures and large numbers of storage pits.

The site has yielded varied faunal and floral remains. Cereals such as barley (Hordeum vulgare), bread-wheat (Triticum aestivum), dwarf-wheat (Triticum sphaerococcum), rice (Oryza sativa), field-pea (Pisum arvense), and green-gram (Vigna radiata) besides cotton (Gossypium arboretum/herbaceum) are in the collection. Perhaps rice appeared at the site during the Late Harappan phase.


The site has yielded evidence of both winter and summer crops. The faunal remains include mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and molluscan species. Among the domestic animals, cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, pig and horse were identified. More than a dozen wild animals were identified in the collection, including the nilgai, antelopes, deer, carnivores, rodents and elephant.

kalyanaraman 5 Nov. 2009
Excavation at Kanmer revealed that the site was enclosed by massive stone-built perimeter walls. http://www.chikyu.ac.jp/rihn_e/project/4FR-3.html

Kanmer, Rapar taluka, Kutch, Gujarat, India

Kanmer is a small settlement of Indus Civilization. It has five fold cultural sequence i.e., Early Harappan, Mature Harappan, Late Harppan, Historic and Medieval. The site is being excavated jointly by Department of Archaeology, Inst. Rajasthan Studies, JRN Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Udiapur, India, Gujarat State Department of Archaeology, India and Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto under the general direction of J.S. Kharakwal, Y.S. Rawat and Toshiki Osada.

submitted by 
j.S. kharakwal 19 April 2007




On the Western merges of The Little Rann of Kutch, a small village with ancient history.
I've been staying at an archaeological excavation camp near by, I joined an expedition of Udaipur university headed by Dr. J.S. Kharakwal excavating a mound which belongs to the Hindus Vally civilisation.
The village is in a remote area and it preserved old traditions, cult, traditional wear and religion.
Many temples and shrines for the village goddess and other deities, Sati and hero stones.
The villagers maintain primitive cultivation of fields and trashing with oxes.
They greet each other with 'Jai Mata Ji' (greetings to the goddess).

Kanmer: a harappan site in kachchh, Gujarat, india, pp. 21-137 Toshiki osada ed. Linguistics, archaeology and the human past (occasional paper 2) Kyoto: Indus project, research institute for humanity and nature

http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=16589&noglimit=1&mode=&order=

Site Name: Farmana Harappan burial site 
Country: India Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Delhi Nearest Village: Farmana
Latitude: 28.985470N  Longitude: 76.811110E

Ancient Village or Settlement in India. 65 graves point to largest Harappan burial site next door to capital. Archaeologists from three universities have been at work since the beginning of this year in Haryana’s Sonepat district, digging for what may turn out to be one of the most significant breakthroughs in the study of South Asian protohistory.

Evidence of 65 burials has been unearthed over the past month at the site in Farmana, 60-odd km from Delhi, making it the largest Harappan burial site found in India so far.

The digging is in its third season now. Evidence of seven burials was discovered last year, and should the work continue into another season, experts say Farmana may throw up evidence of a larger number of burials than even Harappa, the Pakistani Punjab town from which the civilisation of the Indus valley (c. 3300 BC-1300 BC) takes its name.

The discovery holds enormous potential, said Prof Vasant Shinde of the Department of Archaeology, Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute, Pune, the director of the excavation project.

“With a larger sample size it will be easier for scholars to determine the composition of the population, the prevalent customs, whether they were indigenous or migrated from outside,” Prof Shinde said.

A century-and-a-half after the great civilization was discovered, historians still have no definite answers to a number of questions, including where the Harappans came from, and why their highly sophisticated culture suddenly died out.

“For the first time, we will conduct scientific tests on skeletal remains, pottery and botanical evidence found at the site, to try to understand multiple aspects of Harappan life,” Prof Shinde said.

“DNA tests on bones might conclusively end the debate on whether the Harappans were an indigenous population or migrants. Trace element analyses will help us chart their diet ¿ a higher percentage of zinc will prove they were non-vegetarians; larger traces of magnesium will suggest a vegetarian diet.”

Most chemical, botanical and physical anthropology tests will be done at Deccan College. But the more sophisticated and expensive DNA and dating tests will be conducted in Japan. The Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto and Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, are collaborating with Deccan College under the aegis of the Archaeological Survey of India for the project.

The team also plans to carry out coring tests in lakes around the Farmana site to ascertain climatic conditions prevalent at the time of the Harappan civilization, and investigate whether the decline of the culture followed catastrophic climate change.

The burials found so far are expected to be from around 4509 BP (before present), or 2600-2200 BC. “There are three different levels of burials and at some places skeletal remains have been found one above the other. All the graves are rectangular ¿ different from other Harappan burials sites, which usually have oblong graves,” Prof Shinde said.

The site shows evidence of primary (full skeleton), secondary (only some bones) and symbolic burials, with most graves oriented northwest-southeast, though there are some with north-south and northeast-southwest orientations as well. The variations in burial orientation suggests different groups in the same community, Prof Shinde said. The differences in the numbers of pots as offerings suggest social and economic differences within the community. Also in evidence are significant signs of regional variations that contest the idea of a homogenous Harappan culture.

Prof Upinder Singh of the Department of History, Delhi University, expressed enthusiasm about the project. “If such a large Harappan cemetery has been discovered, I am sure it is going to be of significant help in historical research,” she said. “The entire fraternity of research scholars and academics would be looking forward to knowing about the findings at the site.”

Source: Indian Express March 3, 2009

Kharakwal, JS, YS Rawat and Toshiki Osada, 2007, Kanmer: a Harappan site in Kachchh, Gujarat, India. Pp. 21-137 in: Toshiki Osada (ed.), Linguistics, archaeology and the human past (Occasional paper 2) Kyoto: Indus project, Research institute for Humanity and Nature.