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Tag: archeology

  • Fossils to decipher the geological &evolutionary history of the earth

      Fossils are the windows to the evolutionary history of Earth and its organisms. They provide valuable information about the geological and evolutionary history of Earth.

     Fossils are the are the remains of ancient organisms or the traces of activity of such organisms. They are preserved remains or traces of ancient life.

    Paleontogy is the branch of science dealing with study of fossils.  More precisely paleontologists explore the evolutionary pathways, past geological environment, climate, tectonic movements etc. through the study of fossils received from various geographical regions of the world.

     Fossil studies have vital role in portraying the history and geology of various countries and continents. There are different types of fossils and they help reconstruct “the tree of life”. The remains of ancient life or fossils include bones, shells, footprints, burrows and impressions which help to decipher the evolutionary, geological, cultural history of the earth.

    Geological History is unravelled through the study of fossils as they date rock layers or strata and correlate geological time across different regions.

     Fossilized dung and footprints also throw light into the ancient history of different regions and the animals lived there. It throws light also into archaeological studies unravelling the civilizational history spanning over continents and time.

    Fossils are indicators of the climate prevailed in the historic times. They also provide vital information about plate tectonics and evolutionary history of continents, mountains, ocean basins etc.

    Types of Fossils

    There are different types of fossils and each type of fossils have particular significance in paleontological, geological &archaeological studies. The chief fossil types include:

    • Body Fossils:  These include preserved parts such as bones, shells, wood or imprints of organisms.
    • Trace Fossils:  these types of fossils are evidence of activity particularly of animals such as tracks, burrows, nests, coprolites. Trace fossils provide evidences for the organism’s presence in a particular chronological period of history. The trace fossils include footprints, burrows, dungs etc.
    • Molecular Fossils:  These are preserved organic molecules, providing hints about ancient biochemistry.

    Fossilization- How do fossils form?

    Fossilization is a complex process of fossil formation happening spontaneously overtime. It requires rapid burial in sediment (like mud or ash) to prevent decaying. Fossilization of hard parts (bones, shells) is the most common type.

    Fossils undergo a variety of different fossilization processes, depending on the characteristics of the particular organism. There are various levels of fossil preservation, each containing its own clues pertaining to the organism.

    Fossilization processes include:

    • Permineralization: Minerals fill pores, turning organic matter to rock.
    • Compression: Organic matter is squeezed into a

    carbon film.

    • Impressions: the two-dimensional imprint most commonly found in silt or clay, without organic material present.
    • Compactions: preservation of organic material with slight volume reduction.
    • Molecular fossils: deals with chemical data, preserving organic material, but providing no information concerning the structure of the organism.
    • Freezing: ideal fossils that are rare, everything up to internal organs are preserved in cold storage.
    • Amber: biological specimen that is encased in the hardened resin of a tree, in which the entire body may be preserved.
    • Drying & Desiccation: fossils that have been thoroughly dried.
    • Wax & Asphalt: almost as good as freezing, but with the usage of natural paraffin.
    • Coprolites & Gastroliths: these categories deal with the indigestable remnants of meals.
    • Trace fossils: typically formed when an organism moves over the surface of soft sediment and leaves an impression of its movement behind.
    • Molds & Casts: An impression is left, then filled.

    Conditions that facilitate fossilization

    Fossilization is a complex process and certain conditions are crucial for fossilization. The most common types of fossils are those which are having hard parts such as bones& Shell and had a rapid burial after death of the organism.

    Besides being tough and hard, the organism must come to rest in a place where it can be buried before it decays or disintegrates. If the organism is not buried deeply and quickly, aerobic bacteria will reduce it to rubble. Water, given enough time, can also dissolve it. For this reason, fossils of some organisms are rarer than others.

     The skeletons that containing a high percentage of mineral matter are most readily preserved. The soft tissue that is not close to skeletal parts is less likely to be preserved.

     Other conditions that lead to fossilization include resting an environment that was biologically inert, areas that are receiving a large, steady supply of sediment (deltas of major rivers), and parts of the earth below sea level compared to those above the sea level.

     The ideal place to become a fossil is at the bottom of a quiet sea or lake where the prospective fossil is least likely to be damaged. Moreover, it can be covered rapidly with sediment.

     Clay provides ideal conditions for fossilization as the sediment protects the tissues and helps to exclude predators and solvent water.

    How do fossils unravel the past?

    • Origin of life -evolutionary history through fossil study

    Fossils provides snapshots of the past which when gathered together yields the whole picture of evolutionary change over the past 3.5 billion years although there could be some missing links.

    Life originated in the marine environment or sea. The earliest evidence of life on earth is of marine animals, during the Precambrian era. The oldest known Precambrian rocks, found in Africa and Australia [ more than three billion years old]and the fossils found among them are of the oldest known organisms on earth.

    The fossils on ancient rocks are of Eobacterium and other water environment fossils. Bacteria e are the first recognizable organized form of life. However, it is a curious fact that scientists have found well defined remains of algae and bacteria from around two billion years ago.

    Commonly fossils are found in sedimentary rock.  These types of rocks have significance in the evolutionary history as well as in geological history. Sedimentary layers act as evidence of the changing climate or movement of the continents during the passage of time.

     Fossils that are preserved in amber give amount of information about the anatomy of that organism. Insects that have been trapped and preserved perfectly in amber (fossilised tree resin). Here organism is usually preserved intact without any disintegration of organs, muscles, and coloring. Even bones may tell a great deal about the soft anatomy.

    Some parts of a few fossils can also give an account of growth, injury, disease, form, function, activities, and instincts.

     Fossils record the successive evolutionary diversification of living things, the successive colonization of habitats, and the development of increasingly complex organic communities.

     Fossils can chronicle about the environment and the climatic conditions under which the organisms lived.

    • Fossils as geological time markers

    In geological science fossils act as time markers. They throw light into the age and sequence of rock layers (strata) and the evolution of life, with specific fossils appearing and disappearing at certain periods, marking major boundaries like eras and periods.

     Fossils help geo-scientists to correlate rock ages and understand Earth’s history.

     Fossil study shows the time when species evolve and become extinct. Fossils of some plants and animals are confined to known, specific periods of geological time. Thus, fossils give us a useful insight into the history of life on Earth. The evolution of human beings and other life forms, the change in environment through geological time are unravelled by fossils.

     They also give an account of tectonic plate movements happened in the past and evidence for collisions or continental drifts that separated continents. Fossil study of various geographical regions helps to find out the similarities in species and evolution of new species happening overtime, as a result of isolation of continents by tectonic activity.

    Fossils provide important evidence for evolution and the adaptation of plants and animals to their environments.

    Fossils can also be used to date rocks and throw lights into geological history. Different kinds of fossils occur in rocks of different ages and they are evidences of evolutionary as well as geological change overtime.

    Fossils buttress the study of environmental degradation by providing a baseline of past, pristine environmental conditions and by offering a continuous record of how ecosystems responded to both natural and human-induced changes over time.

     In a nut shell fossils are windows to the past which opens into the vast expanse of buried scientific facts which trigger explorations in different fields of science and technology to know the unknown or more precisely the mysteries of the Earth.

    written by dr sanjana p souparnika

    Reference for further reading

  • Bhimbetka Rock Shelters

    Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh stands tall with the grandeur of seven hills and over 750 rock shelters  with cave paintings of ancient times, distributed over 10 km.

    It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site near Bhopal, renowned for its rock shelters and cave paintings. Bhimbetka has the oldest-known rock art in India, as well as it is one of the largest prehistoric complexes.

     The place name Bhimbetka originated from a myth related to Bhima of Mahabharatha . Bhimbetka means “Bhima’s resting place” or “Bhima’s lounge”.

    This amazing rock shelter consists of seven hills: Vinayaka, Bhonrawali, Bhimbetka, Lakha Juar (east and west), Jhondra and Muni Babaki Pahari

    South of these rock shelters are successive ranges of the Satpura hills. It is within the Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary, embedded in sandstone rocks, in the foothills of the Vindhya Range.

    The Auditorium rock is the largest shelter at Bhimbetka. According to the accounts of Robert G. Bednarik this prehistoric cave has “cathedral-like” ambience with its Gothic arches and soaring spaces.

    There is an ancient Mata Vaishavi Temple in Bhimbetka.

    Location

    Bhimbetka rock shelter is situated at Bhojpur Raisen in Bhopal District about 45 kilometres south-east of Bhopal, at the southern edge of the Vindhya Range.

    Historical significance

    Bhimbetka is a scenic and picturesque site with it is world famous rock shelters  which throw light into the earliest traces of human life in India and evidence of the Stone Age starting at the site in Acheulean times.

    Some of the Bhimbetka rock shelters feature prehistoric cave paintings and the earliest are dated to 10,000 BCE, corresponding to the Indian Mesolithic.

     These cave paintings depict various types of animals and human figures with early evidence of community living with dance and hunting from the Stone Age.  The paintings also depict warriors on horseback from a later time.

    Link with Mythology

     Indigenous people of Bhimbetka believes that Bhima during his exile used to rest here to interact with the locals. There is also a narrative that Bhima Worshiped Mata Vaishavi at this location and blessed for concurring the forthcoming war.

    Auditorium cave.

    The cave is one of the prominent features of Bhimbetka which throws light into the history of this place.  It is surrounded by quartzite towers.

    The cave’s plan is similar to a “right-angled cross” with four of its branches aligned to the four cardinal directions. The main entrance points to the east. At the end of this eastern passage, at the cave’s entrance, is a boulder with a near-vertical panel that is distinctive, one visible from distance and all directions – Chief’s Rock” or “King’s Rock]. The boulder with the Auditorium cave is the central feature of the Bhimbetka.

    Cave paintings of Bhimbetka unravel the evolution of a civilization

      The rock shelters and caves of Bhimbetka have a large number of paintings. Some of the oldest paintings are dated to 10,000 BCE.

    It was W. Kincaid, a British India era official who first mentioned Bhimbetka in a scholarly paper in 1888.But the archeological significance of this rock caves was found by V. S. Wakankar. However, the prehistoric significance of Bhimbetka was revealed only in the 1970s.

     There was human settlement here from the Stone Age through the late Acheulian to the late Mesolithic until the 2nd century BCE. The artefacts from the excavation site and the pigments present in deposits, as well as the rock paintings points to that.

     The drawings and paintings of Bhimbetka can be classified under seven different periods.

    V. S. Wakankar classified the drawings and paintings into seven different periods and dated the earliest paintings to have belonged to the upper Palaeolithic to be as early as 40,000 years ago

     The colours used are vegetable colours which have endured through time because the drawings were generally made deep inside a niche or on inner walls.

    Period I – (Upper Paleolithic): These are linear representations in green and include humans dancing and hunting.

    Period II – (Mesolithic): small figures in this group show linear decorations on the body. There is animal as well as human figures and hunting scenes with the weapons such as barbed spears, pointed sticks, bows and arrows. The types of weapons used are clear indicators to the periods of history.

     Tribal wars also have been portrayed here. The depiction of communal dances, birds, musical instruments, mothers and children, pregnant women, men carrying dead animals, drinking and burials are detected among the paintings.

    Period III – (Chalcolithic) – These resemble paintings of the Mesolithic. These paintings denote that during this period the cave dwellers of this area were in contact with the agricultural communities of the Malwa plains, exchanging goods with them.

    Period IV & V – (Early historic): The figures of this group have a schematic and decorative style and are painted mainly in red, white and yellow colors.

    The association is of riders, depiction of religious symbols, tunic-like dresses and the existence of scripts of different periods.

    The figures of yakshas, tree gods and magical sky chariots also have been found here.

    Period VI & VII – (Medieval): These paintings are geometric linear and more schematic, however they show degeneration and crudeness in their artistic style. The colors used in these paintings seems to be prepared by combining black manganese oxides, red hematite and charcoal.

    In one of the desolate rock shelters, the painting of a man holding a trident-like object and dancing has been found and it is assumed by many as Lord Shiva.

    Many paintings of Bhimbetka has been lost or degenerated overtime.

     It has been estimated that paintings of at least 100 rock shelters might have eroded away.

     Bhimbetka stands with its numerous rock shelters in the lush green valley of Vindya ranges, since many centuries unravelling the history of mankind. It offers new lessons for exploring our roots taking a stroll through the depth of the caves which unfolds the untold history of people who thrived here centuries and decades ago.

    How to reach Bhimbetka?

    By air : Raja Bhoj Airport is the major airport of Bhopal, located around 15 km from the city center in Bairagarh suburban area on National Highway 12. Bhopal is well connected to the metros other cities by various companies’ airlines.

    To reach Bhimbetka Rock Shelters from Bhopal, you can take a bus or taxi on NH46, which is about a 46 km drive.

    By rail: The nearest railway station to the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters is Bhopal Junction (BPL]. It is served by the West Central Railways. Bhopal is on one of the two main Delhi to Mumbai railway lines and also on the main line to the southern state capitals of Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Thiruvananthpuram.

    By road:

    The nearest bus stand to the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters is Obaidullaganj, which is about 9 km away, and buses from Bhopal can take you there.

    References

  •  Romila Thapar

    Romila Thapar is a renowned Indian historian and author of many historical books.  She has authored many internationally acclaimed books on history including From Lineage to State, Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas, Early India: From Origins to AD 1300, and the popular History of India, Part I.

    Thapar is an Honorary Fellow of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, where she also received her Ph.D. in 1958, and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was an emeritus professor of history at jawaharlal nehru university , New Delhi.

    Thapar is a historian who believed in authenticity of historical data that is corroborated by archaeological evidences. Her historical writings delineate the origins of Hinduism as an evolving interplay between social forces.

    Romila’s book From Lineage to State analyses the formation of states in the middle Ganga valley in the first millennium BCE, tracing the process to a change, driven by the use of iron and plough agriculture, from a pastoral and mobile lineage-based society to one of settled peasant holdings, accumulation and increased urbanisation. Her book on Somnath examines the evolution of the historiographies about the legendary Gujarat temple.

     Thapar was a great critic of “communal interpretation” of Indian history, in which events in the last thousand years are interpreted solely in terms of a notional continual conflict between monolithic Hindu and Muslim communities.  According to Thapar, this communal history is “extremely selective” in choosing facts, “deliberately partisan” in interpretation and does not follow current methods of analysis using multiple, prioritised causes.

    Personal life

     Romila Thapar was born 0n 30th November 1931 in lucknow,india as the daughter of Lieutenant-General dr.Dayaram thapar,the director general of Indian armed forces medical services. Young Romila ‘s education was in different cities of India as her father had to move as a military officer. She is an alumna of the St. Mary’s School and Wadia College, Pune. After doing her graduation from Punjab university in English literature she secured a second bachelors degree and later doctorate in history from the university of London in 1958.

    Career

      she started her career journey in Indian history as a reader at Kurukshetra university between 1961 and 1962 and later at Delhi university between 1963 and 1970.  Thapar joined as professor of ancient Indian history at the Jawaharlal Nehru university, New Delhi later and continued in the university as Emeritus professor.

    She has authored many books as a historian and her major works include:

    • Asoka and the decline of the Mauryas
    •  Ancient Indian social history: some interpretations
    •  Recent perspectives of early Indian history
    •  A History of India volume one
    •  Early India: from the origins to ad 1300.
    • From lineage to state.

    Thapar’s first volume of a history of India narrates the period from its early history to the arrival of Europeans in the sixteenth century.

     Ancient Indian social history gives an account of the period from early times to the end of the first millennium, and detailing a comparative study of Hindu and Buddhist socio-religious systems. It scrutinizes the role of Buddhism in social protest and social mobility in the caste system.

    From lineage to state   is a meticulous analysis about the formation of states in the middle Ganga valley in the first millennium B C and it traces the process to a change, driven by the use of iron and plough agriculture, from a pastoral and mobile lineage-based society to one of settled peasant holdings, accumulation and increased urbanisation.

    Each book of Romila Thapar is an immersive account of historical narratives from a research-oriented perspective.  

    Honors & accolades

     Romila Thapar is an honorary fellow at lady Margaret hall, oxford, and at the school of oriental and African studies (soas), university of London.

     She holds honorary doctorates from the university of chicago, the institut national des langues et civilisations orientales in Paris, the university of oxford, the university of Edinburgh (2004), the university of Calcutta (2002) and recently (in 2009) from the university of Hyderabad.

     Thapar was elected a foreign honorary member of the American academy of arts and sciences in 2009. She was also elected an honorary fellow of st Antony’s college, oxford, in 2017.

    in 2004, the us library of congress appointed her as the first holder of the kluge chair in countries and cultures of the south.

    She has been a visiting professor at Cornell university, the university of Pennsylvania, and the college de France in Paris.

    She was elected general president of the Indian history congress in 1983 and a corresponding fellow of the British academy in 1999.

    She is co-winner with Peter Brown of the Kluge Prize for the Study of Humanity for 2008.It is a very prestigious prize received by Romila Thapar. The prize is awarded by the John W. Kluge Centre at the Library of Congress.

    in January 2005, she declined the Padma Bhushan awarded by the Indian government.  Later she wrote to the president like this “i only accept awards from academic institutions or those associated with my professional work, and not state awards”.

    Romila Thapar is considered as one of the intellectuals of Indian history who believes in doing justice to the nation’s history with a bold unyielding voice.

    written by

    Dr.Sanjana p. Souparnika