Settlement Archaeology

The book deals with the growth of theory and methods in archaeology and the reconstruction of neolithic life ways. It is an outcome of intensive field work in different eco-systems – coastal, inland and hill tracts of Visakhapatnam region on the East Coast of India.The survey for neolithic cultural evidence and analysis of the data is carried using advanced scientific techniques. Aerial photographs, earth resistivity survey, plane table survey, stereo binocular microscopic study, chemical properties of soils, statistical testing are a few to mention. Standard anthropological techniques of exploration, excavation, participant observation, interviews also have been followed.Neolithic settlement pattern is built up. The neolithic house types and the density of settlement in relation to elevation are brought to light which reflect the present day settlements of coast, inland and hill tracts. Economic persuits and social structure of neolithic people have been drawn based on the analogies with the ethnographic present. Different stone tools, types and varieties of pots, household objects, decorative objects and the some alignments, etc., of neolithic period find parallel in the ethnographic present. Close kin groups lived together in scattered, clustered, compact and semi-compact types of settlements persuing production activity besides hunting and fishing.