Dihar is an archaeological site of Neolithic and Early village farming culture located in the Indian state of West Bengal. Construction of the settlement is believed to have started around 2700 BC. Dihar people developed a system of exploitation of natural resources and subsequent commercialization of commodities (prehistoric exchange system). The financial security afforded by this system encouraged artistic excellence in pottery making (which surely entails an appreciation of created forms) and bone-working.
The prehistoric settlement at Dihar village was discovered in 1983 by the University of Calcutta's Department of Archaeology. Excavations at Dihar were carried out in two phase, the first phase was conducted in 1983–84, 1984–85 and 1993–94 and the second phase in 2008–09 and 2012–13.
Bowls, black-red pottery and miniature vessels were discovered during the excavations. Human skeletal remains have also been found in the excavations.
History
In the early period (pre-metal phase) the people of Dihar were involved with agriculture. At this time they did not know the use of metals. They mainly used various tools made from stone. Animal husbandry existed alongside food production through agriculture. This change was achieved after the abandonment of the subsistence technique of prolonged hunting-gathering.
It is estimated that they started using metal around 1500 BC. Evidence of the use of metal has been found in Dihar as early as 1300 BC.
During the early historic period population and settlement characteristics, including area, increased rapidly. Apparently, settlement shifted along a north-south axis about 1000 BCE.
By the end of Malla period (10th to 17th centuries AD) the settlement had spread beyond their earlier boundaries, and developed into an emerging politico-religious consciousness. Two Shiva temples of Dihar were built on top of the structural mounds or remains of the earlier settlement to legitimise of the relationship between the ruling authority and the ruled.
Chronology
According to the samples obtained, the Dihar period is divided into six cultural phases. Use of metals was absent in the first phase, but use of metals began in the second phase; in two phases, the Early Agricultural Culture and the Black-Red Pottery Culture developed. The third phase belonged to the early historic period. The Black-Red Pottery culture was present during this phase. The fourth phase belonged to the Early Indian Middle Ages. The fifth and sixth phases included the pre-Malla and the Malla period of the medieval respectively.
Archaeology
Four mounds have been standing in Dihar village since ancient times. The villagers were aware of the presence of mounds. Except the Hirapur mound, the remaining three mounds have temple. Later the University of Calcutta undertook a program of survey exploration and excavation. This settlement was discovered while exploring the mounds. Dihar was first excavated in 1984 and last in 2013, which extending Bengal's early village farming culture to 2700 BC. The site is located 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) from Bishnupur, the capital of the medieval Mallabhum kingdom, on the north bank of the Dwarakeswar river.
Archaeologists claim that the settlement was a center of early village farming culture and the Black and red ware culture of West Bengal. According to the carbon 14 dating of samples from the Hirapur mound, Dihar is the oldest archaeological settlement of the early village farming culture discovered in modern West Bengal. Among the four mounds at Dihar, the oldest specimen is from the Hirapur mound, which is 4700 years old. Early village farming culture in Dihar existed between 2700 BC and 1500 BC, which was contemporary with the Pre-Harappan, Harappan and Post-Harappan periods.
Civilization
The people of Dihar contributed in settlement, metallurgy and pottery to the civilization of Bengal and Lower Gangetic Valley. They also contributed to jewelery making; in the early period jewelery was made from bone and later from metal.
Metallurgy and jewellery
The people of Dihar first started using copper, and later iron. The plateau environment, and the forest dwellers and ancient metalworking traditions in the forest region must have influenced and dictated the situation at Dihar. The Chota Nagpur plateau served as a potential metal source. Workers made rings and rods from copper. Perhaps these sticks were used for applying eye collyrium.