Early Settlements in the Central Tapi Basin

This book deals with an exhaustive account of the study of settlement and subsistence patterns of the early farming community in the northern Maharashtra. This work is considered to be one of the first systematic attempts in India, in which efforts have been made to study various determinant factors responsible for the establishment of early settlements in the Tapi basin. The author surveyed the whole Central Tapi basin by employing various scientific methods and studied in great depth more than 100 Chalcolithic settlements. On the basis of the study of surrounding ecological conditions and a detailed observation of the ancient settlements, the author has reconstructed site hierarchy, which is the first of its kind in India. He has achieved considerable success in relating settlements to each other. By adopting models from geography, he has succeeded in identifying various kinds of patterns prevalent during the Chalcolithic period. The book provides a detailed account of the progress in settlement pattern studies in India in the world context. The other important contribution includes in-depth study of the subsistence pattern of the Chalcolithic people. Some of the facets of the Chalcolithic life-style have been interpreted with the help of ethnographic parallels.