All Things Archaeology

I have been meaning to write about this since it was requested sometime during the last year (yes, that long!). My apologies for the delay - I was so excited about getting back to writing the blog, but probably from writing the thesis I ended up having what they call a writer’s block. A few days ago I was reading an article on another blog I follow, and suddenly I felt inspired to write again, so here we are!  The name Elephanta brings back a lot of memories from different years of life. I remember visiting it as a picnic spot with my family when I was a school kid some twenty odd years ago. The Island is located about 10 km off the coast of Mumbai and is accessible by ferries and launches during the day; these can be boarded from the Gateway of India. It roughly takes an hour-long boat ride to get there. After alighting on the pier, there is an option of boarding a toy train which drops the tourists upto the foothill from where the ascent to the island begins. Imagine my excitemen...

  Hello dear readers! I have been MIA on the blog since the last year and a half, or more probably. Too many things were happening, but majorly I was focusing on completing my doctoral thesis. Now that most of the academic writing work is taken care of, I can get back to enjoying writing this blog! I am considering what new topics to write about. I have a few at hand which I am working on, at the moment. If anyone has any particular concept or topic they'd like to read about, do comment below and let me know. Also, in another news, I am moving out of the world of academia. Excited to find out what's in store for me next. Stay tuned for some amazing write-ups coming up on the page soon. Till then, take care. Cheers, B.

When I get asked about what I do for a living, I say that I am an archaeologist. It is then often followed by questions like, "so you dig dinosaurs?!", "How many dinosaurs have you found yet?" and other questions related to "dinos" basically! Social media is largely responsible for the spread of information which is many-a-times full of ambiguity and errors. So here’s a basic write-up to help you understand how archaeology and palaeontology are different fields of study.  Let’s look at archaeology first. A famous anthropologist Leslie White once said, culture is “man’s extrasomatic means of adaptation”. And archaeology is the study of past human cultures. Extrasomatic means anything that exists outside of the individual human body. Archaeology encompasses everything created by past humans as a means to adapt to their surroundings and advance as a species. The different types of objects produced by past humans are called artefacts. These are made by shaping...

They say “A Diamond is Forever''. But is it really the case? Well, diamonds have not exactly been around ‘forever’ in the jewellery market, until De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd. used the slogan to channel the consumer demands by marketing diamonds as being the symbol of eternal love. So then what exactly was the ornament type preferred by our good ol’ prehistoric folks? Before metal was discovered, the prehistoric humans used to fashion necklaces, earrings and other ornaments out of raw materials such as semi-precious stones, mollusc shells, animal teeth, eggshells, presumably flowers and bird feathers as well. Few or most of these materials were usually available in their vicinity. If you have read the earlier article I wrote about shells , then you probably know that they were frequently used to craft ornaments. But what I found surprising while researching for this article is that shell beads might have links with development of language in humans! Mind boggling right? Mar...

When one thinks about the maritime trade of ancient India, the first ports that come to mind are usually Lothal, Bharuch, Bassein, Muziris, Pattanam, etc. Today let’s explore the lesser-known tales of the ports of Odisha from the eastern coastline, and their role in shaping India’s maritime past. Due to poor preservation conditions, the earliest reported shipwrecks from the Indian coastline all date post 16 th century CE (Common Era). In the absence of direct evidence, indirect sources inform us about Odisha’s contacts with the Southeast Asian and Roman regions. These sources are often in the form of literary texts, inscriptions, coins, pottery and iconographic evidence. In the historical sources, Odisha has been referred to by various names as Udra Desa, Kalinga, Utkal and Orissa. The significance of Odisha in the maritime trade is observed in the popular literary works such as Raghuvamsa (an epic poem written in 19 cantos), in which Kalidasa refers to the king of Kalinga as ‘ Mahoda...

Do you ever go to the beach and are really fascinated by all the different types of shells? Even before I pursued archaeology, I was (am) the girl who loved collecting shells from beaches she visited. I even wore earrings and necklaces made of shells (I still do, sometimes). I did not understand their morphology (form) as I do now but just the fact that they come in such different shapes, sizes, colours and patterns got me hooked. As it happens, I am not the first person to be so fascinated by shells. From thousands of years ago, the prehistoric people loved collecting and adorning themselves with shells too. The oldest example of shells used as jewellery comes from the prehistoric site of Skhul in Israel. Shells of a certain species (gastropod - Nassarius gibbosulus ) were found with perforations from the same layer as 10 human fossils. Archaeologists believe these were used as beads for ornamentation by early humans. The layer from which shells were found is dated to 100,000 - 135,00...