BANC 134
Fundamentals of Archaeological Anthropology
IGNOU BANC 134 Free Solved Assignment 2024
BANC 134 Free Solved Assignment July 2024 & Jan 2025
Assignment I
Q 1. What is Archaeological Anthropology? Describe the history of development of prehistoric archaeology in India.
Ans. Archaeological anthropology is a special branch of anthropology that focuses on studying human life and culture from the past by examining material remains.
These remains include tools, pottery, buildings, bones, cave paintings, and other objects left behind by people who lived long ago.
The aim of archaeological anthropology is to understand how human societies lived, worked, and changed over time. It tells us about people’s habits, beliefs, and daily life before written records were made.
It is like solving a mystery, where every broken pot, stone tool, or ancient site gives us clues about how early humans lived and developed.
Archaeological anthropology connects us with our roots and helps us understand the journey of human evolution and civilization.
In India, the history of prehistoric archaeology has a long and interesting development.
Prehistoric archaeology in India means the study of early human life in the Indian subcontinent, especially before written history began.
The story of this study started during the British colonial period when scholars and explorers began to take interest in India’s ancient past.
At that time, the main aim was to find links between Indian civilization and Europe’s past, but later, it grew into a proper scientific field.
One of the earliest efforts to study Indian prehistory came from a British geologist named Robert Bruce Foote. In 1863, while working in Pallavaram near Chennai, he discovered the first Paleolithic stone tool in India.
This discovery marked the beginning of prehistoric archaeology in the country.
Foote continued to explore various parts of South India and discovered many important prehistoric tools and sites. Because of his great contribution, he is often called the “Father of Indian Prehistory.”
His work showed that India had a rich prehistoric past and early humans had lived here long before the start of recorded history.
After this, more surveys and excavations were carried out in different parts of India. The focus remained mostly on finding stone tools and studying the climate and land where early humans might have lived.
During the early 20th century, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) became more active in exploring prehistoric sites.
The ASI was originally founded in 1861 by Alexander Cunningham for historical archaeology, but later it expanded its focus to prehistoric times as well.
In the 1920s, a major breakthrough came with the discovery of the Indus Valley Civilization at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.
Though these cities belonged to a period that had writing, their discovery helped archaeologists understand how prehistoric cultures evolved into urban civilizations.
It showed that India had one of the oldest urban cultures in the world, almost 4,500 years ago.
The excavation of these sites marked a turning point in Indian archaeology and attracted global attention.
Later on, many Indian archaeologists began contributing to prehistoric studies. H.D. Sankalia was one such important name. He did detailed fieldwork and wrote extensively about the Stone Age cultures in India.
His efforts helped form a solid academic foundation for prehistoric archaeology in the country.
He worked on several sites like Nevasa in Maharashtra and helped date and classify different cultural periods such as the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods.
In the Paleolithic period, early humans used crude stone tools for hunting and gathering. Sites like Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh show early rock shelters and cave paintings that give us a glimpse into this period.
In the Mesolithic period, tools became more refined and small, called microliths.
People started domesticating animals and settling in small groups. The Neolithic period saw the beginning of farming and pottery-making. Sites like Burzahom in Kashmir and Chirand in Bihar give evidence of early agricultural life.
With the coming of new technologies like carbon dating, satellite imaging, and GIS mapping, archaeological research in India has become more advanced.
Today, Indian archaeologists are using scientific tools to better understand human history.
Institutions like the Deccan College in Pune, Banaras Hindu University, and the Archaeological Survey of India continue to play a key role in prehistoric studies.
In recent years, more importance is being given to preserving ancient sites and educating people about our past. Public awareness has increased, and there is a growing interest in heritage conservation.
However, challenges like urban development, illegal digging, and lack of funds still affect archaeological research.
Q 2. What is Excavation? Briefly comment on different types of excavation in archaeological studies.
Ans. Excavation is a method used in archaeology to carefully dig and uncover things buried under the ground. These things can include old tools, pottery, bones, buildings, coins, or even whole cities.
Excavation helps archaeologists understand how people lived in the past, what they used in daily life, and how their societies grew and changed over time.
It is like opening a time capsule—every layer of soil can tell a different story about the people who once lived there.
Excavation is not just about digging randomly; it is a slow and careful process.
Archaeologists make detailed plans, use special tools, and follow rules to protect and study every object they find. The main goal of excavation is to learn about human history by studying the physical remains of past cultures.
Before starting any excavation, archaeologists conduct surveys to identify a suitable site.
Once they are sure that a site might hold historical remains, they mark it out in a grid system to divide it into small sections.
This helps them keep track of exactly where each object is found. They also study the soil layers, because each layer belongs to a different time period.
Older layers are found deeper down, and newer ones are closer to the surface. This method is called “stratigraphy.”
It helps in dating the objects found during the excavation. Excavations are also recorded in great detail through notes, drawings, photographs, and sometimes video.
All this information is later analyzed to draw conclusions about the past.
There are different types of excavation methods used in archaeology, depending on the purpose, type of site, and the kind of material expected. One common type is vertical excavation.
In this method, archaeologists dig deep down into the earth, going through different layers of soil to understand the history of a site over time.
This type is useful when the aim is to study the chronological sequence of occupation—how people lived in one place across different time periods.
It is often used in tells or mounds, which are places where many generations have lived, building one layer over another.
Another type is horizontal excavation. In this method, the focus is not on going deep but on opening a wide area at a single layer or level. It helps archaeologists study the layout of a site during a particular time.
For example, it can reveal the structure of an old village, the arrangement of houses, streets, or temples.
Horizontal excavation is especially useful when the goal is to understand the lifestyle, architecture, and social structure of a particular period.
A third type is rescue or salvage excavation. This is done when an archaeological site is under threat of being destroyed due to construction, mining, floods, or other developments.
In such cases, archaeologists quickly excavate the site to save as much information as possible before it is lost.
Though time is limited, this kind of excavation is very important because it helps preserve valuable historical data that would otherwise disappear.
Test excavation, also known as trial trenching, is another type. This method involves digging small test trenches in different parts of a site to get an idea of what lies underneath.
If the test trenches reveal significant findings, a full excavation may follow. Test excavation is often used at the beginning of a project to assess the potential of a site.
Underwater excavation is a specialized type of excavation carried out in lakes, rivers, or oceans where ancient shipwrecks or sunken cities are found.
This is more difficult than land excavation because it requires diving equipment, waterproof tools, and extra care to protect fragile objects found underwater.
Another modern method is mechanical excavation, where machines like bulldozers or JCBs are used to remove topsoil quickly, especially when working on large sites.
However, after the initial clearing, delicate work is done by hand tools to avoid damaging important remains.
Each type of excavation has its own purpose and importance. But in all cases, the principles remain the same—careful planning, systematic digging, accurate recording, and preservation of all findings.
Excavation not only brings out physical remains but also gives voice to the people who once lived, loved, worked, and dreamed on that very ground.
In India, several important excavations have revealed the richness of our ancient past—like Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa from the Indus Valley Civilization, the rock shelters of Bhimbetka, and the Neolithic site of Burzahom.
These were possible only through planned and patient excavation work. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and institutions like Deccan College have played a big role in this field.
Assignment II
Q 3. Describe the carbon dating method.
Ans. The carbon dating method, also known as radiocarbon dating, is a scientific way used to find out the age of ancient things that were once alive, like wood, bones, charcoal, or plant remains.
This method is very important in archaeology and anthropology because it helps researchers know when a person lived, when a tree was cut, or when a piece of cloth was made.
It is one of the most trusted techniques for dating things that are up to around 50,000 years old.
The method is based on a special type of carbon called Carbon-14 (C-14).
Carbon-14 is a radioactive form of carbon that is present in the air.
All living things—animals, humans, and plants—take in Carbon-14 during their life, either by breathing, eating, or absorbing it through the atmosphere.
As long as the living thing is alive, it keeps taking in Carbon-14 and maintains a balance with the carbon present in the air.
However, when the living thing dies, it stops taking in Carbon-14. From that moment, the Carbon-14 inside its body starts to slowly break down or “decay” at a fixed rate.
Scientists know that it takes about 5,730 years for half of the Carbon-14 in a sample to disappear.
This is called the half-life of Carbon-14. By measuring how much Carbon-14 is left in a sample and comparing it to how much should have been there when it was alive, scientists can calculate how many years have passed since the death of that living organism.
To perform carbon dating, a very small piece of the sample is taken and tested in a laboratory using special machines.
The amount of remaining Carbon-14 is measured carefully, and from that, the age of the object is calculated.
This process is very precise, though scientists also compare it with other methods and known historical dates to make it more accurate.
Carbon dating has been used to date many important archaeological discoveries, like the Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient Egyptian mummies, or early tools and fossils found in different parts of the world.
It has helped archaeologists build timelines of human history and understand how cultures changed over time.
However, carbon dating has its limits. It only works on things that were once alive and not on stones or metals.
Also, after about 50,000 years, the remaining Carbon-14 becomes too little to measure. Still, despite these limits, carbon dating remains a powerful and useful method to connect us with the ancient past.
Q 4. Briefly describe different Lower Palaeolithic stone tools with suitable diagrams
Ans. The Lower Palaeolithic period is one of the earliest stages of human prehistory, spanning from about 2.5 million years ago to around 300,000 years ago.
During this time, early humans, or hominins, developed and used a variety of stone tools.
These tools were crucial for survival as they helped early humans in hunting, gathering, and other essential activities.
The tools of the Lower Palaeolithic are typically classified into two main types: Oldowan tools and Acheulean tools.
Oldowan Tools: The Oldowan tradition is the earliest known stone tool industry, dating back to around 2.5 million years ago.
The tools were primarily made by striking rocks together to create sharp-edged flakes.
The most basic Oldowan tool is the flake itself, which was used for cutting, scraping, and processing food. The core is another important Oldowan tool.
It is simply a stone that was struck to create flakes.
Cores were often used for more heavy-duty tasks like cracking open bones to extract marrow.
The tools from this period are simple but effective, and they show that early humans were beginning to understand how to make and use tools to improve their daily life.
Acheulean Tools: The Acheulean industry followed the Oldowan and appeared around 1.7 million years ago.
This period is best known for the development of handaxes and cleavers, which are more advanced and refined than the tools from the earlier Oldowan period.
Handaxes are large, almond-shaped tools with a sharp edge, used for chopping, cutting, and even butchering animals.
They were made by flaking stones on both sides to create a sharp edge, giving them a symmetrical shape.
Cleavers are similar to handaxes but typically have a broader, flatter blade. These tools were often used to chop and cut through thick materials, like meat or wood.
Both Oldowan and Acheulean tools were made from flint, chert, and other hard stones, which could be easily shaped and sharpened.
These tools show the growing sophistication of early humans, as they learned to work with different types of stone to make tools that were better suited to their needs.
As for the diagrams of these tools, while I can’t provide actual images, imagine a simple flake as a sharp-edged piece of stone, and a core as the rough, unshaped stone from which the flakes are struck.
The handaxe looks like an oval or tear-drop-shaped stone, with sharp edges on both sides, while the cleaver is a broader, flat tool with a sharp edge used for chopping.
Q 5. Briefly comment on the stone tool making techniques of Upper Palaeolithic culture.
Ans. The Upper Palaeolithic period, which occurred roughly from 40,000 to 10,000 years ago, marks an important phase in human evolution.
During this time, early humans developed more sophisticated and varied stone tools.
The tools made during the Upper Palaeolithic are different from those of earlier periods like the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic.
These advancements in stone tool-making techniques show a significant leap in human intelligence, skill, and adaptability.
One of the key techniques used during the Upper Palaeolithic period was pressure flaking. This method involved applying pressure to a stone with a tool, such as bone or antler, to create smaller, more precise flakes.
The result was thinner, sharper, and more finely worked tools compared to earlier methods.
This technique was especially useful for making blades, which were long, thin flakes of stone that could be further modified into various tools like scrapers, knives, and awls.
The production of blades was a significant innovation, as it allowed early humans to create tools that were sharp and efficient for tasks like cutting, scraping hides, and woodworking.
Another important technique during the Upper Palaeolithic was the Levallois technique, which was developed earlier but continued to be used in this period.
This technique involved preparing a stone core by striking it in such a way that flakes of a particular size and shape could be removed in a single blow.
These flakes were then further shaped into tools like points, which were used as spear tips, or scrapers for processing animal hides.
The Levallois technique showed a greater level of planning and foresight, as the core had to be carefully prepared before any flakes were removed.
In addition to the Levallois technique, Upper Palaeolithic toolmakers also used retouching, a process where the edges of a flake or blade were chipped away to refine its shape and make it sharper.
This method allowed the tools to be modified for specific tasks, such as cutting meat, woodworking, or even carving bone or antler.
The Upper Palaeolithic period also saw the production of microliths, which were tiny, finely shaped stone tools.
These were often set into wooden handles or shafts to make composite tools like arrows, spears, and harpoons.
Microliths were versatile and could be used for a wide range of activities, including hunting and fishing.
Assignment – III
Q 6. Neolithic culture
Ans. The Neolithic culture marks a significant phase in human history, characterized by the transition from hunting and gathering to settled agricultural life.
During this period, which began around 10,000 years ago, humans began farming, domesticating animals, and making pottery.
This shift allowed for permanent settlements and the development of more complex societies.
People built houses, developed tools for farming, and began cultivating crops like wheat, barley, and rice.
The Neolithic era also saw the rise of new social structures and trade networks, laying the foundation for future civilizations.
Q 7. Attirampakkam
Ans. Attirampakkam is an important prehistoric archaeological site located in Tamil Nadu, India.
Excavations at Attirampakkam have revealed evidence of early human habitation, dating back to around 1.5 million years ago.
The site has yielded numerous stone tools, providing insight into the technological advancements of early humans.
These tools, mainly handaxes and cleavers, belong to the Acheulean tradition.
The findings at Attirampakkam are significant for understanding the spread of early humans in South Asia and their tool-making skills.
Q 8. Excavation
Ans. Excavation is the process of carefully digging and uncovering objects or remains from the past.
In archaeology, this method is used to find artifacts, tools, bones, and structures that help us understand past human life.
Excavation involves precise digging, recording findings, and analyzing layers of soil to establish a timeline.
It is an essential tool for uncovering ancient history.
Q 9. Iron Age
Ans. The Iron Age followed the Bronze Age and began around 1200 BCE. During this period, humans began using iron tools and weapons, which were stronger and more durable than those made of bronze.
The Iron Age saw the rise of larger settlements, improved agriculture, and the development of more complex societies.
It was also a time of great technological and cultural advancement, leading to the rise of early empires.
Q 10. Dmanisi
Ans. Dmanisi is an archaeological site in Georgia, famous for its discoveries of early human fossils.
The site has provided important evidence of the first hominins who moved out of Africa about 1.8 million years ago.
The fossils found at Dmanisi are crucial in understanding human evolution, showing the physical characteristics and migration patterns of early humans.
Dmanisi is considered one of the most important sites in the study of human origins.
Q 6. Pleistocene Epoch
Ans. The Pleistocene Epoch occurred from about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago. It was a time marked by repeated ice ages and significant climate changes.
During this period, early humans evolved and spread across the globe.
The Pleistocene is notable for the development of stone tools, the rise of Homo sapiens, and the extinction of many large animals, such as mammoths and saber-toothed cats.
It was a crucial period in the development of modern human beings.
IGNOU BANC 133 Free Solved Assignment 2024
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