A human skeleton, believed to be more than 3,500 years old, was unearthed by a team of archaeologists at Asurabandha near Banga village under Harirajpur gram panchayat on the outskirts of Jatni in Khordha district on Monday.
The archaeologists claimed that the skeleton belonged to the Chalcolithic era and is between 3,500 and 4,000 years old.The excavation at the site had begun on February 15 this year by a 15-member team of archaeologists from the Deccan College, Pune, Centre for Heritage Studies, department of Anthropology, Utkal University and Odisha Institute of Maritime and South East Asian Studies.
The skeleton was discovered after digging out a pit of 25 sqft in size and about 2.4 metre in depth, sources said. According to Dr Kishore Basa, professor of Anthropology, Utkal University, the exact age, sex, height and reason of death of the person would be ascertained after a paleopathology test of the skeleton. He said the site of excavation belonged to the Chalcolithic Age that denotes a period in the 4th and 3rd millennium BC, chiefly in the Near East and SE Europe, during which some weapons and tools were made of copper. This period was still largely Neolithic in character. However, the Chalcolithic or Eneolithic era occurred at different stages of history at different locations. The era was followed by what is known as the Bronze Age.
Dr Basa also said the semicircular floor with 16 postholes found underground would provide more information about the history of the region as well as other details of the lifestyle, food habits and other features of life in that era. The skeleton was later sent to the Anthropology Department of Utkal University for test.
It may be noted that archeologists had discovered another human skeleton belonging to the same age from Bantal Mundia, part of the same excavation site, in February last year.