Inamgaon
Inamgaon is a post-Harappan agrarian village and archaeological site located in Maharashtra, western India. Situated along the right bank of the Ghod River, it is considered to be the 'regional centre' of the Bhima Valley.
Inamgaon is one of the most intensively and extensively excavated and well reconstructed Chalcolithic sites of the Deccan region as well as of India so far
Geography
The village is located approximately to the east of the city of Pune. The region, situated within the lower reaches of the Ghod, is characterized by Cretaceous-Eocene Deccan Trap basalt.Archaeological site
An ancient site, measuring approximately by, is located about from Inamgaon.There are five mounds at the site. The largest mound is called 'Inamgaon I', and it has been extensively excavated, and studied for its archaeological finds. The site was occupied between 3800-3200 B.P., or 1800-1200 BC.
The Chalcolithic settlement was excavated in order to better understand the early and later Jorwe culture. There are 3 phases of the Chalcolithic that are found at Inamgaon.
The excavation was a landmark in India's archaeology history due to its extensive and systematic process. The excavations revealed multiple cultural phases including Late Jorwe Culture, Early Jorwe Culture, and Malwa Culture. Archaeology findings are available at different museums such as Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute, and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya
Malwa culture
The Malwa culture is characterized by a distinctive pottery known as the Malwa ware. It is a black-painted-red pottery which is made of fine orange buff paste and is wheel thrown. It usually has a thick slip that is orange red in color and the designs are painted in purplish to brown-black pigment. The design elements are of great variety. Besides simple linear patterns, there also occur elaborate designs employing geometrical patterns painted into panels or registers. These include either hatched or solid triangles or diamonds in rows, concentric circles, and loops. In addition to the geometric patterns, there are some interesting animal motifs such as deer. The painted ornamentation is usually confined to the upper half of the vessels. The commonest shape in this ware is the typical Indian lota or a small water vessel with a globular body and high neck, sometimes with an outcurve rim. Jars with a flaring mouth and a variety of bowls and dishes are also common. While many of the characteristic shapes of the Malwa ware are present at Inamgaon, the drinking goblet or the chalice is conspicuously absent. A new shape is a vessel with a tubular spout which might be the result of contact with the Neolithic farmers from the south who used such spouted vessels. The Malwa ware is associated with coarse red and gray fabrics and a small amount of black burnished pottery.A casual glance at the repertoire of pottery is enough to bring home the conspicuous absence of dishes. It is therefore not unlikely that besides the dough, much of the food was in liquid or semi liquid form. The quantities are also significant inasmuch as they enable us to infer the probable use of each pottery form. Thus, the coarse red/gray ware basins and jars and the handmade jars were probably used for storage purposes. The painted ware bowls, concave and convex sided, could have served as the table ware and the spouted ones for drinking water. The channel spouted bowls may have been used as milk bowls and the high and short necked jars for storing water. From the number of eating bowls, it appears to be a rather large family, perhaps six to eight persons, young and old together. Even today this is the average size of a family in an Indian village. This information helps for calculating the population of Inamgaon in the Late Jorwe phase. The area occupied by the people during this phase is large enough for about 200 to 250 huts, and, if presume an average family unit of five to six persons, the population of Inamgaon in the first quarter of the first millennium B.C. would have been from about a thousand to twelve hundred. This is quite sizable. In fact, Inamgaon may have been one of the most populous settlements of the culture.
A large number of curious pottery objects have been found. They are made of broken potsherds, the edges of which were ground. The striation marks on the shreds have been obliterated by constant use. These objects are oblong in shape and have rounded corners. They were probably used as skin rubbers. Except for the change in pottery styles and domestic architecture, there is no difference in the cultural equipment of the Early and Late Jorwe phases. As already observed, the culture was chalcolithic in character; the people used copper and stone tools. As in the Malwa culture, most of the tools for cutting and chopping, etc. were made on chalcedony blades. Numerous cores and flake-blades are strewn over the surface of the ancient mound. Most of the blades are comparatively small; the longest one is about 7 cm in length. They are all made on the crested ridge technique. Besides the rich blade assemblage, we also recovered ground and polished stone axes. A small number of these were found in the course of excavations, but many have been found on the surface. It is possible that the axes were ground locally in huge querns, several of which were found in the excavations. A few ring-stones or mace-heads have also been found. They were probably hafted on wooden shafts and were used for turning the soil. They thus give us an idea of the agricultural operations. Sling balls of stone also occur
Copper being scarce, was used on a restricted scale. Only a few copper tools such as a pair of tongs, a fishhook and a chisel have been found. It is very different.
Ancient disposal of dead
No evidence of the burials of the Malwa culture has so far been obtained except a solitary extended burial at Daimabad. But of the Jorwe both Early and Late, there is now definite evidence that the dead were buried within the house. In the Early Jorwe phase, only extended burials have been found. One of these was a child burial and the other that of an adult. The skeleton in each case was accommodated in a small pit just large enough for the purpose and was oriented in a north-south direction. The child seems to have been buried most unceremoniously, for no grave goods accompanied the dead body. In the other burial, a carinated bowl and a spouted vessel, both of the painted Jorwe fabric were found. It is significant that both the burials occurred within the floor of the house. In the Late Jorwe phase, the dead were buried in pits, the children in urns, and the adults in complete inhumation. For the children, two gray ware urns were placed horizontally mouth-to-mouth in a pit.These are fractional burials, but a complete skeleton has been found in a twin urn burial. Children were also buried in a single urn, though rarely. Usually a bowl and a spouted vessel accompanied the burial urns. Adults were buried in pits in which the whole skeleton was kept. Vessels containing food and water were also placed in the pit. Both types of burials were found within the habitation area, either inside or in the courtyard of the house. Regarding culture contacts, one may say, on the basis of excavated evidence, that the first comers to the site were a people from central India, called the Malwa people. They were soon displaced by the Jorwe people, who, like the southern Neolithic people, buried the dead in pits and pots within the habitation. Later, in the last phase, the Jorwe people borrowed the black-and-red ware as well as the channel spouted bowl from their counterparts in the south. The chronology of the Late Jorwe phase can be computed on the basis of one radiocarbon date that has been obtained from a sample from a late level of the Early Jorwe phase. Lying stratigraphically above this is the cultural debris of the Late Jorwe phase which is about a meter in thickness. It would not therefore be far off the mark if we date the Late Jorwe phase to 1000-700 B.C. This also explains the introduction of the black-andred ware of the megalithic fabric in the Late orwe. The Inamgaon excavations have thus narrowed the hiatus between the chalcolithic phase and the early historic period by nearly three centuries. It may be stated here that the early historic period starts in about the sixth century B.C. It is hoped that continuing excavation will close this hiatus in the not too distant future.Current Social Life
The moderate day Inamgaon is on developing verge. Farming and Allied business are prime income source for Inamgaon. The Ghod River is being conducive for the cultural and social buildings. Inamgaon have been allotted with two Reservoirs & Small Dams for water storage projects by Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority. These Reservoirs & Small Dams for water storage helps to store water and ease the water availability. The settlement have all types of Preschool, Primary school & Secondary school. The New English School Inamgaon. is secondary school. Inamgaon farmers have the capital shares in two different cooperative Sugar factory. The Shrigonda Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana and Ghodganga Sugar Factory. The industrial establishments are closer and are conducive for the villagers employment. Inamgaon is catered by Petrol station and Social gathering hall. The settlement is being served by various National banks, however only Pune District Central Cooperative Bank scores the presence. The united capital shares of villagers and Pune District Central Cooperative Bank support have established Cooperative society, which, indeed contributes to needy farmers to have monitory support when requires. This Cooperative society governing body is formed by elective people by the villagers.How to reach
Railway Station: There is no railway station at Inamgaon, Daund junction railway station is closest around . The biggest railway station near to Inamgaon is Pune railway station.Airport : Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Mumbai around 250 km, Pune International Airport is around 85 km.
By Road: Inamgaon is about 89 km from Pune. One can take a private taxi or state transport bus to reach this place.