River Valley Cultures of India
Contents: Foreword. Preface. I. The Himalayas: 1. Prehistoric River Valley cultures in Nepal/Gudrun Corvinus. 2. Emergence of early cultures in River Valleys of Central Himalaya/B.M. Khanduri. 3. A note on the Satluj River Valley culture in the Himachal Himalaya/B.R. Sharma. II. Indo-Gangetic Region: 4. A note on the archaeology and food economy at Charda--an early historic settlement in Distt. Bahraich, Rapti Valley on Indo-Nepal border/G.L. Badam and D.P. Tewari. 5. Mesolithic cultures in the Middle Ganga Valley/V.D. Misra. 6. A history of the development of human cultures in the Tons Valley/J.N. Pal. 7. Ecology, settlement pattern and population in the Gangetic plain during Mesolithic phase/J.N. Pandey. III. Eastern India: 8. River systems and the emergence of complex society in Orissa: an archaeological perspective/Kishor K. Basa. 9. The Tel River Valley Civilization: from prehistoric to the pre-medieval/Baba Mishra and Pradeep Mohanty. 10. From stone age to early historic : recent archaeological discoveries in Kalahandi District, Orissa/Pradeep Mohanty and Baba Mishra. 11. Radhanagar and beyond : pattern, process and structure of early urbanization in South-Eastern India/Jitu Mishra. 12. Microlithic culture in the Tarafeni Valley : a holistic study/Bishnupriya Basak. 13. Mesolithic and early historic cultures in the middle Mahanadi Valley, Boudh District, Central Orissa : an ecological and ethnoarchaeological perspective/Balaram Tripathy. IV. Western India: 14. Palaeolithic cultural sequence in the Sukhi Valley, Gujarat/P. Ajithprasad. 15. Exploration in the Lilka River-basin in Saurashtra, Gujarat : a preliminary report/K. Krishnan and Kiran Dimri. 16. Harappan and Harappan-affiliated Chalcolithic settlements of Rupen, Saraswati and Banas River Valleys of North Gujarat/V.H. Sonawane. V. Central India:17. Geology and geomorphology of Upper Betwa Sub-Basin with special reference to the area around Sanchi/A.A. Khan. 18. Faiths and rituals of the stone age people in Chambal Valley/Giriraj Kumar. VI. Peninsular India: 19. Continental drift vis-a-vis Peninsular Riparian System/Akhilesh Choudhury and Sibdas Ghosh. 20. The Upper Palar Basin : an archaeological study/S.B. Darsana. 21. Pranhita-Godavari River Valley cultures/K.N. Prasad. 22. Early historic archaeology of Tamil Nadu/K. Rajan. 23. The pre and protohistoric cultures and environment of the Kallada River-basin in Kollam District of Kerala, South India/R. Rajendran. 24. The nation and rivers: Cauvery in Karnataka\'s heritage/K.S. Shivanna and D.V. Devaraj. 25. The Krishna - Tungabhadra Valley: the protohistoric Kiskindha of the Vanaras (?)/A. Sundara. VII. General: 26. Rivers in Adivasi cultures/Narendra Bokhare. 27. River Goddesses in mythology, literature and art/P.P. Dandwate and P.S. Joshi. 28. Significance of freshwater molluscs in the Indian Archaeological Context/Arati Deshpande-Mukherjee. 29. River Valley cultures at cross-roads : On the threshold of the second millennium/Vijay Paranjpye and Anjali Paranjpye. 30. Aminostratigraphy and amino acid geochronology: a new dating tool being applied to the Narmada Valley Deposits of Central India/Rajeev Patnaik. 31. Concluding remarks/A. Wanganeo and G.L. Badam.
"River Valleys have been the sites of the oldest human settlements and consequently the cradles of civilization as well as the repositories of the cultural milestones of the mankind. In India, rivers have played a predominant role in the temporal, cultural and spiritual life of the people through the ages. Several civilizations and associated multi-cultures have evolved around them. Many of them have disappeared leaving trails behind them; others continue in fully and partly transformed forms.
The present anthology of articles on the River Valley Cultures of India is a result of the seminar organised by Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, Bhopal. It encompasses such diverse fields as hard rock geology, palaeoenvironment, palaeobiological sciences and traditional archaeology. Also studied are settlement patterns, site formation processes, tribal research, dating methods, ecological history of rivers, diverse riparian systems and their role in history and the biocultural diversity of India. The volume also addresses social problems facing man in the river valleys like disaster management and the rehabilitation of communities settled along the banks of the rivers, and various other aspects, scientific or social, of the riparian systems. In view of its multidisciplinary nature, this book will be useful to every student and researcher interested in these areas." (jacket)
