Gilund

Gilund is a village and an archaeological site located in Rajsamand district of Rajasthan state in western India.^[1] It is one of five ancient sites excavated in the Ahar-Banas Complex which also includes the sites of Ahar, Ojiyana, Marmi, and Balathal.

Location

It is positioned in the Mewar Plain, which lies between the Aravalli Mountains and the Deccan Plateau. There are three major rivers in the area which include the Kothari, Banas, and Berach. Research conducted on the climate of the ancient site shows that it used to be wetter than it presently is.

Ancient site

At the ancient site of Gilund, two mounds labelled as 'eastern' and 'western', measuring 45 ft and 25 ft respectively above the surrounding fields in height and covering an area of 500 X 250 yards were partially excavated by a team under the direction of B. B. Lal during 1959-60. Excavation was carried out at three different areas, designated as GLD-1 (with its extension GLD-1A), GLD-2 and GLD-3.^[2] The site was later revisited from 1999 to 2005 by a team from the University of Pennsylvania and the Deccan College in Pune, India.

Gilund was occupied from approximately 3000-1700 BCE. These years of occupation are divided into three phases: Late Ahar-Banas 2000-1700 BCE, Middle Ahar-Banas 2500-2000 BCE, and Early Ahar-Banas 3000-2500 BCE. Here various housing structures have been uncovered, as well as large buildings with long parallel walls, workshops, refuse heaps, and an exterior wall surrounding the site. The workshop area has revealed that the occupants practiced small-scale craft production. Further analysis of the areas also shows that the inhabitants were agro-pastoralists, meaning that they mixed agricultural practices with livestock herding practices.

Artefact analysis has linked objects found at Gilund to the other sites in the Ahar-Banas Complex, as well as the site of Bagor. In addition, lithics at Gilund and Bagor were produced using the same techniques.

Cache of seal impressions

In 2003 excavations at Gilund, archaeologists discovered a large cache of seal impressions dating to 2100-1700 BC. A large bin filled with more than 100 seal impressions was found by a team led by archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania Museum and the Deccan College (Pune).

Gregory Possehl and Vasant Shinde led the excavations.

The impression designs, according to Dr. Possehl, offer additional evidence for a more worldly-wise culture than was formerly assumed to exist at Gilund. The impressions found in the bin were made from seals both round and rectilinear. The design motifs are generally quite simple, with wide-ranging parallels from Indus Civilization sites such as Chanhu-daro, Pirak, Kot Diji and Nindowari, 400 to 500 miles away. There are also distinct parallels with seals from another cultural group archaeologists call the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), from as far away as Central Asia and northern Afghanistan, 1,000 miles to the northwest.^[3]

Demographics

Gilund is a small village, there are very few houses of Sen, Jat(Kisan), Mali, Maheshwari, Anchaliya (Jain), Brahmin, and Muslim. The archaeological site is also known as "Modiya Mangari". Gilund is also famous for it celebration of "Khehkhara Utsav" (Next day of Diwali).

Notes

References

• Hooja, Rima (1988). The Ahar Culture and Beyond: Settlements and Frontiers of 'Mesolithic' and Early Agricultural Sites in South-eastern Rajasthan, c. 3rd-2nd Millennia B.C., Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, ISBN 978-0-86054-530-9.

Coordinates: 25°01′N 74°15′E / 25.017°N 74.250°E / 25.017; 74.250