Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-68cz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-20T12:48:09.440Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

AMS 14C Dating of the Sites of Digaru-Kolong River Valley, Assam-Meghalaya Foothills, India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2024

Jitendra Kumar*
Affiliation:
Dept. of Ancient History, Culture & Archaeology, Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, Bihar 803111, India
Sukanya Sharma
Affiliation:
Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam 781039, India
Rajveer Sharma
Affiliation:
Inter University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi 110067, India
Sundeep Chopra
Affiliation:
Inter University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi 110067, India
*
Corresponding author: Jitendra Kumar; Email: [email protected]

Abstract

The present study aims to determine the chronology of the past settlement of the different archaeological sites of the Digaru–Kolong River valley (Assam-Meghalaya Foothills), India, based on accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dates of seven charcoal samples, five potsherds, and five sediment samples. The archaeological record of the study area consists of ground and polished stone axes and adzes, pottery, and standing or buried megaliths. The samples analyzed were excavated from test pits, and an attempt has been made to correlate the findings with the chronology of the neighboring archaeological region. A site reported in the vicinity of the study area is primarily Neolithic. However, the results from our excavations indicate a time frame for the analyzed artifacts of ca. 240 CE to 1379 CE.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of 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

Footnotes

*

Both authors should be considered as the first author.

References

Ansari, ZD and Dhavalikar, MK (1970) Excavations at Ambari (Gauhati). Journal of the University of Poona 30, 7997.Google Scholar
Barpujari, HK (1990) The Comprehensive History of Assam: From the Pre-Historic Times to the Twelfth Century A.D. Guwahati: Guwahati Publication Board.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C (2009) Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51(1), 337360. doi: 10.1017/S0033822200033865.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dhavalikar, MK (1973) Archaeology of Gauhati. Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate Research Institute 31, 137149.Google Scholar
Goswami, MC and Sharma, TC (1963) A Brief Report on the Investigation into Prehistoric Archaeology in the N.C. Hills. Journal of Gauhati University 13, 6366.Google Scholar
Hedges, REM, Tiemei, C and Housley, RA (1992) Results and methods in the radiocarbon dating of pottery. Radiocarbon 34(3), 906915. doi: 10.1017/S0033822200064237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IGNCA (2015) The Rock Art Sites of Brahmaputra Valley in Western Assam, Assam (IInd Phase of Field Documentation) (23rd–30th March, 2015) Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts New Delhi. ignca.gov.in. [accessed 2023 Jan 1]. http://ignca.gov.in/rockart_2015/Rockart_AssamReport2015.pdf.Google Scholar
Janz, L, Feathers, JK and Burr, GS (2015) Dating surface assemblages using pottery and eggshell: assessing radiocarbon and luminescence techniques in Northeast Asia. Journal of Archaeological Science 57, 119129. doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2015.02.006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kar, SK, Prasad, S and Kumar, G (1997) Quaternary sediments of Indo-Gangetic, Brahmaputra and adjoining inland basins and the problem of demarcation of Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary. Journal of Palaeosciences 46(1–2), 196210. doi: 10.54991/jop.1997.1340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitri, M, Kharmawphlang, D and Syiemlieh, H (2015) A preliminary report on the excavation of the Neolithic site at Law-Nongthroh (SohpetBneng Hill), Khasi Hills, Meghalaya. Man and Environment 40, 3342.Google Scholar
Mitri, M and Neog, D (2016) Preliminary report on the excavation of Neolithic sites from Khasi Hills Meghalaya. Ancient Asia 7, 117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prokop, P and Suliga, I (2013) Two thousand years of iron smelting in the Khasi Hills, Meghalaya, North East India. Current Science 104, 761768.Google Scholar
Rao, SN (1973) The Neolithic Culture of Sarutaru, Assam. In Bulletin of the Department of Anthropology. Dibrugarh University.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Austin, WEN, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Butzin, M, Cheng, H, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, et al (2020) The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere radiocarbon age calibration curve (0–55 cal kBP). Radiocarbon 62(4), 725757. doi: 10.1017/RDC.2020.41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharma, R, Umapathy, GR, Kumar, P, Ojha, S, Gargari, S, Joshi, R, Chopra, S and Kanjilal, D (2018) AMS and upcoming geochronology facility at Inter University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), New Delhi, India. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 438, 124130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharma, S (2023) Assam from Prehistory to History. In Northeast India Through the Ages: A Transdisciplinary Perspective on Prehistory, History, and Oral History. Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group, 2761.Google Scholar
Sharma, S and Singh, P (2017) Luminescence dating of Neolithic pottery in North East India. Current Science 113(3), 492496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharma, TC (1967) A note of the Neolithic pottery of Assam. Man New Series 2, 126128.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M and Polach, HA (1977) Discussion: Reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon 19(3), 355363. doi: 10.1017/S0033822200003672.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Worman, EC (1949) The “Neolithic” problem in the prehistory of India. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 39, 181201.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Kumar et al. supplementary material

Kumar et al. supplementary material
Download Kumar et al. supplementary material(File)
File 13.1 KB