Archaeologists discover ‘cremation patch’ of Painted Grey Ware era in Palwal area

Sumedha Sharma

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Gurugram, July 7

In what could be the discovery of the year, a team of the Archaeological Survey of India has stumbled upon a suspected cremation patch, which could be first ever discovered in the Painted Grey Ware (PGW) era believed to be stretching from 2,000 to 1,000 BC. The patch has been discovered in the ongoing excavation at the Kaserua Khera mound in Manpur village, which is situated in the Hathin block of Palwal district, by a team led by archaeologist Gunjan Shrivastav.

The diggings started in February and the team has made many path-breaking discoveries, including this ritualistic patch, which according to the preliminary evidence appears to be a human cremation ground.

“The section of the mound has 2-m deposit of PGW. The area has yielded a burning patch of 20 m x 1 m. The patch has plenty of PGW sherds, Red Ware sherds, animal bones, both charred and otherwise, as well as two burnt human jaw s and a portion on human skull. This suggests that this was related to some type of ritual activities during the PGW period. The possibility of its association with the cremation practice of human body is not being ruled out. A type of verified clay lumps has been found at many places within the burnt patch and such formation is often found in the cremation of human beings even in modern days,” reads the excavation report from the site.

Assistant archaeologist Kumar Saurbah said the inspection and study of the patch was on. “If the above contention is correct, the history of human cremation can be traced back to the PGW period or roughly 3,000 BCE. This will be the first cremation site of the PGW era. The mound has been rewarding in many ways. Unfortunately, the main deposit of the PGW period has been levelled by villagers for agriculture. But still a large number of the PGW sherds are found in excavation. The PGW constitutes about 14 per cent of the total pot collection, which is very rare. In most of the excavation, the PGW constitutes 2 per cent to 5 per cent of the total pot sherds. Therefore, this site is one of the richest PGW sites,” said Kumar.

According to the team, for the first time in the history of the PGW excavation, an animal motif has been found depicted on a PGW pot sherd. It is a four-legged animal with a horn and tail visible. The body portion of the animal is filled with dots, making it look like a deer. The site has a rich variety of PGW in terms of painting, designs, fabric and colours.

Pottery painted with geometric patterns

• The Painted Grey Ware culture (PGW) is an iron-age Indo-Aryan culture of the western Gangetic plain and the Ghaggar Hakra Valley.
• The fine grey pottery is painted with geometric patterns in black. The PGW culture is associated with village and town settlements, domesticated horses, ivory working, and the advent of iron metallurgy.
• Although most PGW sites were small farming villages, the PGW culture probably corresponded to the middle and late Vedic period, i.e., the Kuru-Panchala kingdom, the first large state in the Indian subcontinent after the decline of the Indus Valley Civilisation.