GILUND-ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE AND REMAINS

The unnamed ancient site(recorded as Bhagwanpura) in the vicinity of Gilund village covers an area of about 460 x 230 m and is broadly divisible into two parts, western and eastern, rising respectively to heights of about 7 and 14 m above the surrounding fields. During a small scale excavation two major periods of occupation were identified. Period I is chalcolithic in character on account of the presence of a few microliths along with copper.  Four structural sub-periods have been noted, in the earliest of which, at one place, a sizable complex of mud-brick walls (average size of brick 32.5 x 12.5 x 10 cm) is encountered. The walls consist of a series of four parallel north-south walls, varying in thickness from 75 to 90 cm while intermediary space measuring between 75 to 105 cm are filled in with sand.  All through the period the residential houses are made of mud brick, the walls being plastered with mud. Within the houses are noticed circular clay-lined ovens and open mouthed chulhas.  Circular pits with diameter ranging from 90 cm to 1.3 m and average depth of about 60 cm are lined with a 1.5 to 3 cm  thick layer of white clay mixed with sand.  The occupants were fully familiar with the use of kiln-burnt bricks. The characteristic ceramic industry of Period I is Black-and-Red Ware, painted over with linear and curvilinear designs in a creamish-white pigment, other wares include plain and painted black, burnished grey and red wares.  In addition to microliths and objects of copper, other small finds comprise sling balls, saddle querns and rubbers of stone, beads of semi-precious stones and gamesmen and animal figurines of terracotta. No C-14 dates are available for Period I.  But a comparison of the Gilund pottery, with that of Navdatoli may place this period in the second quarter of the second millennium B.C. Period II of Gilund seems to have begun about the middle of the first millennium B.C. as indicated by the presence of bowls and dishes of grey ware.  In the successive strata have been found Sunga and Kushana bowls in red ware, sprinklers in the Red Polished Ware, bowls of kaolin and knife-edged bowls in red ware, indicating that this occupation continued upto the early medieval period.