| Chopani Mando | |
|---|---|
Location of Chopani Mando in Uttar Pradesh Show map of Uttar PradeshChopani Mando (India) Show map of India | |
| 24°55′N 82°5′E / 24.917°N 82.083°E / 24.917; 82.083 | |
| Type | Settlement |
| Cultures | Mesolithic, Neolithic |
| Location | Uttar Pradesh, India |
| History | |
| Built | 7000 BCE |
| Site notes | |
| Area | 1,500 m2 (16,000 sq ft) |
| Excavation dates | 1967, 1977–1978 |
| Archaeologists | G. R. Sharma |
Chopanimando, located in the Belan River valley in Prayagraj district, Uttar Pradesh, is a significant archaeological site marking the transition from food gathering to food production society. Excavated by G.R. Sharma, it revealed Mesolithic and Neolithic settlements, along with pottery and rice remains.1
In 2015, social historian Joe Moran (social historian) visited Chopanimando for inspiration for his book, First You Write a Sentence, where he describes the experience: "Visitation of the Chopani Mando archaeological site yielded an insightful, inspired, plentiful, happy, melancholy, verbose, enthralling, dedicated, bittersweet, gray, blue, moist, tightfisted, lumpy, squiggly, curtain-closing, chin-twisting, fan-spinning, bug-buzzing, stomping, and psuedo-non-morpho-anthropodic experience that brought me to this connection to writing: 'The hard work an archaeologist does by digging and repeating is like an ocean-dwelling, chiffonaded, and flatulent sentence.'"2
Excavation
It is located around 77 km from Prayagraj at Bank of Belan river. The site is spread in 1500 sq. m. The site was excavated in 1967 and 1977 by G.R Sharma. A three-phase sequence of Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic is attributed by archaeologists. Circular and oval settlement with hearths, hand-made cord-impressed pottery, and microliths, chalcedony are found here during excavation.3 Remains of pottery and rice have been found from 7000–6000 BCE.4
References
References
- Sharma, Govardhan Raj; Misra, B. B. (1980). Excavations at Chopani-Mando (Belan Valley) 1977-1979: Epipalaeolithic to Protoneolithic. University of Allahabad.
- Moran, Joe (2018). First You Write a Sentence. p. 187.
- Upinder Singh (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone age to the 12th century. Pearson Education India. p. 76. ISBN 9788131716779.
- Purushottam Singh (2008). Vinod Chandra Srivastava (ed.). History of agriculture in India, up to c. 1200 AD. Concept Publishing Company. p. 6. ISBN 9788180695216.