Proto & Early Historic Archaeology of Odisha

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Reconstruction of the human past is facilitated by textual (written), antiquarian and oral sounces, which respectively constitute the disciplines of history, archaeology and oral history. These three are usually brought together under the phrase heritage studies Archaeology is a major inter-disciplinary area to understand the human evolution and its environmental adoption from the earliest human habitation till the modern times. It includes the broad range of human activities from tool to technology, from agriculture to shipping, from villages to towns, from religion to conviction, from conservation to adoption and many such areas of study related human past. Human colonization, particularly in India, though encompasses a span of at least half-a-million years and can be divided into prehistoric and historical periods. The prehistoric period is again divided into stone, bronze and iron ages. Besides being technological stages, these ages also have economic and social implications depending on the environment. As the name suggests, in the Stone Age the technology was primarily based on stone: however, based on the nature and type of stone tools used, the entire Stone Age is further divided into Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. The time covered by the Palaeolithic Period was much more extensive (early Pleistocene, 2 million years ago to the beginning of Holocene or more precisely to 10,000 years before present; BP) than the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. The Mesolithic Period provides a history of 8,000 years (10,000 to 2,000 years BP). Surprisingly, people maintained a nomadic existence throughout the Palaeolithic and a significant portion of the Mesolithic periods, relying heavily on hunting and gathering. During these times, man preferred to live either in or near forest and the rock-shelters as forests provide flora and fauna in plenty, needed for survival. Till humans were dependent on hunter and gatherer lifestyles, forests were their preferred choice for livelihood. The emergence of agriculture during the Holocene, notably within the last 10,000 years, caused profound changes in modern cultures. Societies have been subjected to considerable climate change and monsoon fluctuations since the advent of agriculture. At our initial stage way back three decades ago, as a student of archaeology, first author was working with renowned archaeologists of India in the Harsh-Ka-Tilla archaeological excavations at Thanesvara, Kurukshetra (1987-90) under the direction of B.M. Pandey of Archaeological Survey of India, several questions crept into our and to some extent required its systematic study with a methodology adopted since the days of Alexander Cunningham in 1872 who was instrumental for identification of the ancient cities of Tasila, Sravasti, Kausambi and Ilhahrut, all related to Buddhism and early history by using the travelogue of Chinese pilgrims Faxian (Fa-Hien) and Nuancang (Hieun Tsang). He was also responsible for publication of the first volume of Corpus Inscriptionurm Indicarum in 1877 CE. In the theoretical classroom learning process, we were able to coin the concepts of archaeology what we grasped from the experts as how to apply the concepts. The basic trend of archaeology has been developed into several forms over the ages. The simple concept of study of archaeology could be divided in the various manners as per the prevailing trends. The study of Indology in 18-19 century was basically concentrated on texts and interpretation, study of scripts, epigraphy and coins, survey of monuments, study of archaeological sites including occasional digging, the approach of Sir William Jones who established Asiatic Society in Bengal in 1784. The next trend is seen the colonial archaeology that begins in 19-20 centuries mainly focussed upon systematic survey and excavation undertaken by Sir John Marshall and Sir Mortimer Wheeler. Indian archaeology in 20th century mainly after 1947 revolves on survey, excavation and dating. This trend was garnered by H.D. Sankalia, A.H. Dani, B. Subbarao on cultural, historical and processual approaches The Processual or Positivist Phase was in 1960's to 1980's that emphasizes on the research designs and hypothesis testing approach. The current approach is Post processual, Post-positivist or Postmodern Phase after 1980's onwards to the present and on-going interpretation, alternate archaeological narratives, public archaeology, cultural resource management which have all broaden the archaeological study and research in India. The scholars who propounded this approach were K. Paddayya, M.L.K. Murty, V.N. Misra, M.K. Dhavalikar, S.N. Rajaguru, D.P. Agarwal and others. The new areas of research are New Archaeology: Extending Processual investigations, Precise or Direct Dating, Ethno-archaeology, Geo-archaeology, Paleobotany, Palaeontotolgy, Theoretical Archaeology, exploring the merits and the demerits of both Processual and Post-processual schools. The New Archaeology or Processual school arose in the west mainly as a reaction to what was called the culture history approach. What we are working in the field is some mixture of all the above concepts at present. Flinders Petrie, the famous British-born Egyptologist who excavated pyramids from 1883 to 1892, published in 1904 a small book titled Methods and Aims in Archaeology (1972). This is a remarkable work for two reasons. First, he already anticipated processual and ideational trends by stating that archaeology is "the Science... which shows what man has been doing in all ages and under all conditions, which reveal man's mind, his thoughts, his tastes and his feelings" (1972: vii). More importantly from our point of view, Petrie recognized the vital role which archaeology.

Dr. Sunil Kumar Patnaik, (b. 1950) did Post-Graduate Diploma in Archaeology from institute of Archaeology, New Delhi (1987-89) and Ph.D. in AIHC&A from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. He has participated in the different Archaeological Excavations in India conducted by Archaeological Survey of India and worked in the Department of Tourism and Culture, Govt. of Odisha for three decades in various capacities. He worked mostly in Odishan Institute of Maritime and South East Asian Studies under the Department of OLL & Culture, Government of Odisha since 2010 as Chief Executive and currently serves as Director (Research) in the same Institute. He has conducted three major Archaeological Excavations in the State and presently working for the Excavation Project of the Ancient Port Site of Palur, Odisha, (2022-23) sponsored by Govt. of Odisha and Tamil Nadu State Archaeology. He is nominated as Curatorial Member of National Maritime Heritage Complex coming up at Lothal, Gujarat by Ministry of Shipping, Govt. of India, also associated with Project Masuam (Maritime Project) of Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India. Visited, a number of countries of South Asia and Europe for archaeological research and tourism promotion, is considered as an authority on Archaeology of Early Buddhism and Maritime Studies of South Eastern India. Dr. Patnaik is also serving as visiting Professor in the Department of History and Archaeology, F.M. University, Balasore, and associated with Teaching and Archaeological field research. More than 50 quality research papers have been published in National and International Journals and Conference proceedings. His most popular and widely circulated books are Buddhist Heritage of Odisha (3" Edn, 2021), Early Buddhist Art of Odisha (2020). Buddhism & Maritime Heritage of South East Asia. ed. (2014), Excavations at Radhangar (2015), Studies in Maritime Heritage of Odisha (2016), Taksasila to Toshali: Trade & Urbanisation in Early Odisha (2017).

Sarita Nayak (b.1990), a gold medallist both in Masters and M.Phill in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology from Utkal University (2010-15) with UGC NET in History is betrothed in teaching and research. She has worked as Project fellow for archaeological fieldwork of exploration and excavations conducted by Odishan Institute of Maritime & South East Asian Studies from 2017 to 2020. She was a part of archaeological investigation projects of Radhanagar, Aragarh, Durgadevi, Chilika, the Rushikulya and the Vamsadhara Valley and is associated with various excavation and documentation projects. She herself undertook survey and documentation of archaeological sites of the Chitrotpala Valley during the year 2021-22. She has published several research papers on second urbanisation, explorations in the Vamsadhara, Chilika and the Chitrotpala valleys. She takes keen interest in the studies of early historic archaeology and maritime history of the East Coast. She has participated in a workshop on Epigraphy conducted by K.J. Somaiya Institute, Mumbai in November, 2022. She is serving as Lecturer & Head, Department of History in Salipur (Autonomous) College, Dist. Cuttack, working for her research on 'Early Buddhist Settlements of the East Coast. As a teacher and researcher of early history and archaeology she proves herself to be an erudite scholar devoted her time towards understanding of musings of early history and archaeology of Odisha.