Map Practice Set V with Solution

Q. Identify the following places marked on the map given below and write a short note of about 30 words on each of them. Locational hints for each of the places marked on the map are given below seriatim: [2.5×20= 50 Marks]

(i) Ancient Capital Site

(ii) Ancient Inscription Site

(iii) Ancient Cultural and Political Centre

(iv) Prehistoric Painting Site

(v) Neolithic Site

(vi) Prehistoric Site

(vii) Site of Ashokan Edict

(viii) Ancient Temple and Terracotta Site

(ix) Chalcolithic Site

(x) Halting Place

(xi) Religious Site

(xii) Megalithic Site

(xiii) Neolithic Site

(xiv) Late Harappan Site

(xv) Cultural and Political Centre

(xvi) NBPW Site

(xvii) Ancient Capital City

(xviii) Mesolithic Site

(xix) Megalithic Site

(xx) Chalcolithic Site

ANSWER

(i) Ancient Capital Site

Purushpura (You can also write nearby site Pushkalawati)

• Modern Peshawar in NWF province of Pakistan.
• Capital of Kushana ruler Kanishka (2^nd century AD).
• Kushana period:
  • Sculptures,
  • Buddhist stupa,
  • Buddhist Chaitya.
• Trade centre as it lied on old silk route.
• Centre of Buddhist learning.
• Mentioned by Chinese pilgrim Faxian and Xuanzang.

(ii) Ancient Inscription Site

Aphsad

• In Gaya district,
• Aphsad inscription gives name of eight late Gupta kings.
• Inscription records erection of a Vishnu temple at the order of a later Gupta King, a religious college and tank.

(iii) Ancient Cultural and Political Centre

Amaravati (Dhanyakataka)

• In Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh.
• Meghalithic, BRW and NBPW site.
• Inscription in Maurya Brahmi found.
• Dhanyakataka – capital of Satavahanas.
• Buddhist stupa:
  • Buddhist Stupa and Mahachaityas with marble and limestone sculptures.
  • Its carved panels tell the story of Buddha.
• Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang visited in 7^th century.
• Ancient School of Arts:
  • Flourished  for  nearly  six  centuries commencing  from  200-100  BC.
  • Patronized first by the Satavahanas and later by the Ikshvakus.
  • Some Buddhist sculptures with Greco-Roman influence.

(iv) Prehistoric Painting Site

Lakhudiyar

• In Kumaon hills, Uttarakhand.
• Lakhudiyar means one lakh caves.
• Prehistoric paintings.
  • human (stick-like forms), hand-linked dancing human
  • animal- fox, long-snouted animal, lizard etc.
  • geometric patterns, wavy lines, dots
  • in white, black and red ochre
  • some superimposition of paintings.

(v) Neolithic Site

Burzahom

• In northeast of Srinagar, J&K.
• First Neolithic site of Kashmir.
• Megalithic culture followed Neolithic culture.
• Certain features differentiate it from other Neolithic cultures:
  • For example: people were not acquainted with agriculture and followed hunting and fishing economy.
• Other important feature:
  • Use of a large number of well-polished bone and stone tools.
  • Large number of bone tools in form of harpoons, needles, arrowheads etc. is found.
  • Human and animal burials found.
    • Humans were buried both primarily and secondarily in pits, mostly dug into the house floors. In secondary burials skulls and long bones were preferred.=
    • Pet animals (e.g. dog) were buried along their masters.
  • Dwelling pits and storage pits are found.
  • Pottery:
    • The early pottery:- crude and handmade.
    • Later pottery:- wheel-made.

(vi) Prehistoric Site

Gufkral

• South-east of Srinagar, J&K.
• Pit dwellings surrounded by storage pits and hearths.
• Early period of was a-ceramic.
• Polished stone tools found.
• Tools made of bone and horn.
• Other artefacts include steatite beads and a terracotta marble.
• Bone of wild and domesticated animal found.
• The people dependent on hunting, but were beginning to domesticate certain animals.
• Plant remains included barley, wheat, and lentils.

(vii) Site of Ashokan Edict

Brahmagiri

• In Chitradurg district, Karnataka.
• Neolithic-Chalolithic and Megalithic site.
• Wattle-and daub huts with post holes.
• Polished stone tools,
• Microlithic blades, and
• Handmade grey pottery.
• Copper–bronze objects in later period.
• Burials:
  • Extended burials of adults
  • urn burials of children.
• Megalithic monuments have been found.
• Agriculture and domestication of animal.
• Draft animal used.
• Ashokan edicts denotes the  southernmost extent of the Mauryan Empire.

(viii) Ancient Temple and Terracotta Site

Bhitargaon

• In Kanpur district, Uttar Pradesh.
• Bhitargaon temple was built in the 5th century during the Gupta period.
• A terraced brick building fronted with a terracotta panel.
• Oldest remaining brick/terracotta Hindu shrine with a roof and a high Shikhara, though its upper chamber did sustain some damage in the 18th century.
• Walls are decorated with terracotta panels depicting shiva, Vishnu, bas relief of lions.
• Built on a square plan with double-recessed corners and faces east.
• There tall pyramidal spire over the garbhagriha.
• The walls are decorated with terracotta panels depicting aquatic monsters, Shiva and Vishnu etc.

(ix) Chalcolithic Site

Adichanallur:

• In the Tuticorin District, Tamil Nadu.
• Urn burial site. Earthenware urns.
• Bronze objects, iron objects, potsherds.
• Skeletal remains inside the urns are in crouched position.
• Two examples of double burial.
• Pottery:
  • BRW, red ware and black ware.
  • Graffiti on pottery.
• Iron implements:- arrowheads, spearheads and axe.
• Copper ornaments found.
• Rice husk and cloth impression on Iron sword.
• A potter’s kiln (industrial activity) found in habitational site.

(x) Halting Place

Bamyan:

• In central Afghanistan.
• Part of the Kushan Empire.
• Visited by the Chinese travelers Faxian and Xuanzang.
• Centre of trade and commerce (on the silk route) and of Buddhism. It was a halting place for travellers.
• Buddha of size 175 feet high, and another of 120 feet were carved from rock. Also mentioned by Xuanzang The statues were destroyed by the Taliban but restored again.
• 7th-century mural paintings found in caves (use of oil-based paints).
• UNESCO World Heritage site.

(xi) Religious Site

Palitana:

• In Bhavnagar district, Gujarat
• Pilgrimage centre for Svetambara Jain.
• Palitana temples of Jainism are located on Shatrunjaya hill.
• Adinatha, the first of the Jain tirthankaras gave his first sermon on Shatrunjaya hill.
• More than 800 marble carved temples on the hill.

(xii) Megalithic Site

Nagarjunakonda

• In Guntur district of A.P.
• Neolithic and Megalithic culture.
• Post holes found.
• Known as Vijaypuri- capital of the Ikshvaku kings.
• Buddhist site:
  • A centre of is Buddhism
  • Named after Nagarjuna, a Buddhist philosopher.
  • Maha Stupa, Chaitya, vihara etc found.
  • The inscriptions show royal (by queen of Ikshvaku) and non-royals sponsership of construction of temples and monasteries.
• Inhabited by merchants and artisans organized in guilds.

(xiii) Neolithic Site

Pandu Rajar Dhibi 

• In Burdman district of West Bengal.
• Neolithic and Chalcolithic site.
• First chalcolithic culture discovered in the West Bengal.
• It reveals microliths, ground stone tools, bone tools, and pottery.
• In Chalcolithic Period, there were a few copper artefacts, beads of semi-precious stones, terracotta figurines, iron spearheads and points, slag, and oven.
• Iron artefacts found at chalcolithic levels.
• The pottery included mainly BRW.
• Bones of domesticated cattle, buffalo, goat, and deer.

(xiv) Late Harappan Site

Lothal

• In Ahmedabad district, Gujarat
• During pre harappan:  It was a small village.
• Centre of  harbour, cotton and rice-growing and bead-making industry.
• City divided into a citadel and a lower town.
• The constructions were made of fire dried bricks, lime and sand mortar. The remains of the city give evidence to
• A sophisticated drainage system.
• Important findings:
  • Dockyard,
  • Persian Gulf Seals,
  • Shell ornaments maker’s shop,
  • Bead maker’s shop,
  • Metal worker’s shop,
  • Fire altars,
  • terracotta figurine of house,
  • warehouse,
  • merchant house,
  • impression of cloth on some of the sealing,
  • twelve bathrooms in the citadel area.
  • An ivory scale:- smallest-known decimal divisions in Indus civilisation.
• connected to other cities through river route.
• A coastal trade route had existed linking sites such as Lothal and Dholavira to Sutkagan Dor on the Makran coast.

Later Harappan culture:

• Continued to be inhabited,
• Much smaller population
• Devoid of urban influences.
• Trade and resources of the city were almost gone,
• The people retained several Harappan ways in writing, pottery and utensils.

(xv) Cultural and Political Centre

Anuradhapura

• In Anuradhapura District, North Central province, Sri Lanka.
• Sacred city for Buddhism
• Ancient capital of Sri Lanka.
• This city was established around a cutting from the ‘tree of enlightenment’, the Buddha’s fig tree, brought there in the 3rd century B.C. by Sanghamitta, the founder of an order of Buddhist nuns.
• According to Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa,
  • Ashoka had sent his son Mahinda, to Srilanka.
  • He met king Devanampiya Tissa and preached the doctrine.
  • In later period, the royal family and nobility of Sri Lanka strongly supported Buddhism.
• Art works featuring depictions of Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva of Mercy and Compassion, became popular.
• Ancient monuments like Buddhist temples, stupas etc. found.

(xvi) NBPW Site

Shravasti

• In Shravasti district, U.P.
• Centre of Buddhists and Jainas.
• Capital of the Kosala Mahajanapada during 6^th century BC.
• On the northern trade routes.
• Many ancient idols, inscriptions, stupas and viharas were found.
• Birthplace of the Tirthankara Sambhavanath in Jainism.
• The Chinese Pilgrim Xuanzang found the city in ruins.
• PGW and NBPW site.
• Structural remains at PGW levels: wattle-and-daub and mud huts.

(xvii) Ancient Capital City

Kapilvastu

• In Kapilvastu ditrict, Nepal (25 km northwest of Lumbini).
• UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Capital of the Shakya kingdom.
• King Suddhodana and Queen Mayadevi of Shakya kingdom gave birth to Gautam Buddha.
• Chinese pilgrims Faxian and Xuanzang made pilgrimages to the site .
• Ancient trade centre.

(xviii) Mesolithic Site

Bagor

• In Bhilwara district of Rajasthan.
• One of the best documented mesolithic sites.
• Three occupational levels: mesolithic, chalcolithic and evidence of iron.
• Microliths:
  • Microliths made of locally available chert and quartz, were found.
  • A large number of geometric microliths such as triangles and trapezes.
• House:
  • House floors paved with stone slabs were found.
  • Circular arrangements of stone.
  • Stone-paved areas with a large number of animal bones were butchering areas.
• Burial:
  • Only one burial was uneartherd and there was no evidence of grave goods.
• Bones of wild and domesticated animals.
• Other discoveries:
  • Ring stones (used as hammer stones to make microliths), and rubbing stones (for grinding food).
• Small bits of pottery of microlith phase found.

(xix) Megalithic Site

Dhanora

• In Durg district, Chattisgarh.
• Menhirs, cap stones, cairns circles found.
• Absence of any skeleton:- possibility of cremation.

(xx) Chalcolithic Site

Golbai Sasan 

• In Puri district, Odisha.
• Neolithic and Chalcolithic site.
• Neolithic period:
  • Post-holes found.
  • Red and grey handmade pottery with cord impressions.
  • Bone tools found including weapons and ornaments.
• Chalcolithic period:
  • Circular huts with hearths and post holes.
  • Both handmade and wheel-made pottery was found, including BRW.
  • Copper artefacts and bone artefacts (including weapons and ornaments) found.
• Agriculture: rice, moong.
• Animal Bones of cattle, goat, deer, and elephant.
• The polished stone tools included axes, adzes, and shouldered celts.
• A human figurine found.