Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Archaeologists have discovered fortified historical sites in Odisha’s Balasore district where articles, dating back from 2000 BC to 100 BC and belonging to the Chalcolithic phase, Iron age and Early Historic period have been recovered for the first time in Durgadevi and Ranasahi in Balasore.
According to the reports, the Odishan Institute of Maritime & South-East Asian Studies (OIMSEAS), after getting permission from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in February this year, carried out the first phase of excavation from March to May 5.
Located 20 km from Balasore town, bordering the Mayurbhanj district, the Durgadevi site has a circular mud fortification of about 4.9 km in circumference between the river Sona on the south and Burahabalang on its north-eastern side.
They carried out horizontal excavation over 2 acres of high land area where a cultural deposit of about four to five metres was seen. In the first phase of work, scientific archaeological digging was carried out in the selected trenches, which were up to 2.6 metres.
The three cultural phases discovered at the site are — Chalcolithic (2000 to 1000 BC), Iron Age (1000 to 400 BC) and Early Historic Period (400 to 200 BC). These phases cover the time period from 2000 BC to 200 BC, which means 4000 to 2000 years from the current time.
During excavation, the excavators discovered the base of circular huts, black on red painted pottery, black slipped ware, red slipped ware and copper objects belonging to the Chalcolithic period (2000 to 1000 B.C.).
The floor of the circular huts was rammed with red soil mixed with Genguti. The base of the circular hut and utilitarian objects indicated the lifestyle of people, who were mostly leading a settled life with agriculture, domestication of animals and fishing as an occupation.
The archaeological excavation project followed the approval from Minister Jyotiprakash Panigrahi, Department of Odia Language Literature & Culture, Odisha Government.
The excavation was started under the guidance of Bishnupada Sethi, IAS, Principal Secretary and Ranjan Kumar Das, IAS, and under the supervision of Archaeologist Dr Sunil Kumar Patnaik, Secretary, OIMSEAS.
Image Source – Google
