Hostname: page-component-5db58dd55d-htx7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-06-12T12:06:54.640Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

NEW AMS 14C DATES OF A MULTICULTURAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE FROM THE PALEO-DELTAIC REGION OF WEST BENGAL, INDIA: CULTURAL AND GEO-ARCHAEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2021

Nabanita Naskar ,
Kaushik Gangopadhyay Open the ORCID record for Kaushik Gangopadhyay [Opens in a new window] ,
Susanta Lahiri ,
Punarbasu Chaudhuri ,
Rajveer Sharma ,
Pankaj Kumar ,
Sunil Ojha ,
Sundeep Chopra  and
Ahana Ghosh
Nabanita Naskar
Affiliation:
Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, 1/AF, Bidhannagar, Kolkata 700064, India
Kaushik Gangopadhyay*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Calcutta, 1 Reformatory Street, Kolkata 700027, India
Susanta Lahiri
Affiliation:
Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, 1/AF, Bidhannagar, Kolkata 700064, India Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, India
Punarbasu Chaudhuri
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta, 35 Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata 700019, India
Rajveer Sharma
Affiliation:
Inter-University Accelerator Centre, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi, Delhi 110067, India
Pankaj Kumar
Affiliation:
Inter-University Accelerator Centre, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi, Delhi 110067, India
Sunil Ojha
Affiliation:
Inter-University Accelerator Centre, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi, Delhi 110067, India
Sundeep Chopra
Affiliation:
Inter-University Accelerator Centre, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi, Delhi 110067, India
Ahana Ghosh
Affiliation:
Department of Humanities and Social Science, IIT, Gandhinagar, India
*
*Corresponding author. Email: k.gongo@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study is on the absolute age dating of a multicultural site of Erenda, East Medinipur district, in coastal West Bengal, India. Charcoal samples were collected and measured using the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facility at the Inter-University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi, India. These samples were collected from secured stratigraphic context of two excavated trenches. A careful collection of samples from two trenches provided us with the first calendar dates, 950 BCE and 1979 BCE, of protohistoric sites in coastal West Bengal. These calibrated calendar dates not only have wider significance in terms of archaeology but also methodological implications to understand the relevance of application of AMS from the dynamic coastal landscape in the humid tropics during the late Holocene period.

Keywords

accelerator mass spectrometrycharcoalprotohistoric siteradiocarbon dating

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 63 , Issue 6 , December 2021 , pp. 1645 - 1655
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press for the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Banerjee, M, Sen, PK. 1987. Paleobiology in understanding the change of sea level and coastline in Bengal basin during the Holocene period. Indian Journal of Earth Science-Special. No. Modern Trends in Quaternary Geology 14(3–4):307–320.Google Scholar
Boaretto, E. 2009. Dating materials in good archaeological contexts: the next challenge for radiocarbon analysis. Radiocarbon 51(1):275–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chattopadhyay, BD, Sengupta, G, Chakrabarty, S, editors. 2005. An annotated archaeological atlas of West Bengal. Vol. 1. Prehistory and protohistory. New Delhi: Manohar and Centre for Archaeological Studies and Training.Google Scholar
Das, SK, Gangopadhyay, K, Ghosh, A, Biswas, O, Bera, S, Ghosh, P, Paruya, DK, Naskar, N, Mani, D, Kalpana, MS, Yoshida, K. 2021. Organic geochemical and palaeobotanical reconstruction of a late-Holocene archaeological settlement in coastal eastern India. The Holocene. doi: 10.1177/09596836211025970.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, PC. 1964. The excavations at Pandu Rajar Dhibi, a bulletin of the Directorate of Archaeology, West Bengal, No. 2. Calcutta: State Directorate of Archaeology and Museums (Government of West Bengal).Google Scholar
Furui, R. 2011. Panchrol (Egra) Copperplate inscription of the time of Sansanka. Pratna Samiksha: A Journal of Archaeology, New Series 2:119–130.Google Scholar
Gangopadhyay, K, Halder, B, Chowdhury, S. 2017. Chalcolithic pottery from Erenda (West Bengal): a preliminary assessment. Pratna Samiksha: A Journal of Archaeology, New Series 8:125–133.Google Scholar
Morley, MW, Goldberg, P. 2017. Geoarchaeological research in the humid tropics: a global perspective. Journal of Archaeological Science 77:1–9 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nemec, M, Wacker, L, Hajdas, I, Gäggeler, H. 2010. Alternative methods for cellulose preparation for AMS measurement. Radiocarbon 52(3):1358–1370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niyogi, D. 1970. Geological background of beach erosion at Digha, West Bengal. Bull. Geol. Mining Metallurgical Soc. India 43:1–35.Google Scholar
Possehl, GL. 1994. Radiometric dates for South Asian archaeology. An occasional publication of the Asia section, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, USA.Google Scholar
Quarternary Geological Atlas. Medinipur sheet. Geological Survey of India.Google Scholar
Rajaguru, SN, Deotare, B, Gangopadhyay, K, Sain, MK, Panja, S. 2011. Potential geoarchaeological sites for luminiscence dating in the Ganga Bhagirathi-Hugli Delta, West Bengal, India. Geochronometria 38:282–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Austin, WEN, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Blackwell, PG, Ramsey, CB, Butzin, M, Cheng, H, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Hajdas, I, Heaton, TJ, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kromer, B, Manning, SW, Muscheler, R, Palmer, JG, Pearson, C, van der Plicht, J, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Scott, EM, Southon, JR, Turney, CSM, Wacker, L, Adolphi, F, Büntgen, U, Capano, M, Fahrni, SM, Fogtmann-Schulz, A, Friedrich, R, Köhler, P, Kudsk, P, Miyake, F, Olsen, J, Reinig, F, Sakamoto, M, Sookdeo, A, Talamo, S. 2020. The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere radiocarbon age calibration curve (0–55 cal kBP). Radiocarbon 62(4):725–757. doi: 10.1017/RDC.2020.41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reingruber, A, Thissen, L. 2009. Depending on the 14C data: chronological frameworks in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic of southeastern Europe. Radiocarbon 51(2):751–770.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sengupta, G. 1995. Archaeology of coastal Bengal. In: Ray, HP, Salles, JF, editors. Tradition and archaeology. New Delhi: Manohar. p. 115–128.Google Scholar
Sharma, R, Kumar, P, Ojha, S, Gargari, S, Chopra, S. 2020. Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), New Delhi. Radiocarbon Date List I. doi: 10.1017/RDC.2020.44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanley, DJ, Hait, AK. 2000a. Holocene depositional patterns, neotectonics and Sundarban mangroves in the western Ganges-Brahmaputra delta. Journal of Coastal Research 16:26–39.Google Scholar
Stanley, DJ, Hait, AK. 2000b. Deltas, radiocarbon dating, and measurement of sediment storage and subsidence. Geology 28(4):295–298.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar