Holocene Climate Variability and Sacred Landscapes: Geoarchaeological and Cosmological Inferences from Ramtek and Nashik, Western India

Tishyarakshita Nagarkar*, R. B. Singh, Rajiv Nigam, Santosh K. Shah, and Bishwajeet Thakur

The sacred landscapes of Ramtek and Nashik, situated within the Deccan Traps Volcanic Province, are carved from tholeiitic basaltic sequences that form one of the world’s largest continental flood basalt terrains. These step‑like plateaus, intercalated with lateritic palaeosols (red bole horizons), preserve stratigraphic and geomorphic records of long‑term environmental change and human adaptation. This study investigates how mid‑ to late‑Holocene climatic variability and volcanic geomorphology shaped the evolution of ritual landscapes and sacred narratives within the broad framework of Indian cosmological thought. By integrating geoarchaeological, palaeoclimatic, and archaeoastronomical perspectives, the research investigates the relationship between celestial orientation, sacred spatial design, and environmental transformation. This study employs cosmic geometry as an interpretive tool to decode the spatial logic of ritualscapes, aligning temple axes, basaltic outcrops, and hydrological features with celestial patterns and seasonal cycles. Sedimentological and microfossil analyses, supported by remote sensing and GIS‑based palaeolandscape reconstruction, reveal dynamic shifts in riverine systems, terrace morphology, and human settlement patterns. Positioning Ramtek and Nashik within comparative frameworks of landscape archaeology and cosmology, this study reinterprets sacred terrains as archives of both climatic memory and cosmological design, where geology, ritual, and celestial geometry converge to narrate resilience and transformation across the Holocene.