Koldihwa
Koldihawa · Deoghat Koldihwa · Belan Neolithic Mound
Vindhyan Neolithic (7000–3500) → Chalcolithic (3500–2000 BCE)·Vindhyan Neolithic (Koldihwa–Mahagara) → Chalcolithic·🇮🇳 Uttar Pradesh, Prayagraj (Allahabad) District, Meja Tehsil, left bank of Belan River 80 km SE of Prayagraj near Deoghat, India
About
About Koldihwa
R. M. Malville, famous for India's earliest rice cultivation evidence (6500 BCE) and earliest domesticated rice pottery impressions. The 20 ha Neolithic–Chalcolithic mound yielded cord-marked pottery, microliths and copper, three-layered mud houses with wattle-and-daub, rice-tempered pottery and botanical remains showing transition from wild to domesticated Oryza sativa at 7000 BP, contemporary with Lahuradewa but in Vindhyan forager context. Part of Vindhya–Ganga Neolithic cluster including Mahagara, Tokwa and Chopani-Mando.
Why it mattersEarliest rice cultivation evidence in India (6500 BCE domesticated impressions) — proves independent Vindhyan Neolithic rice genesis before Ganga urbanism.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Was 7000 BCE rice domesticated or wild gathering?
- 02Relation to Lahuradewa vs independent Belan Neolithic?
Theories
- 01Vindhya as Ganges Neolithic cradle; rice before wheat in Middle Ganga (Sharma model, debated by Fuller)
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.7000–6500 BCE earliest Neolithic; village 6500–2000 BCE
- Period
- Vindhyan Neolithic (7000–3500) → Chalcolithic (3500–2000 BCE)
- Culture
- Vindhyan Neolithic (Koldihwa–Mahagara) → Chalcolithic
- Builders
- Vindhyan Neolithic rice farmers (Ganga Neolithic)
- Purpose
- Earliest rice-farming hamlet and pottery production on Belan floodplain
- Abandoned
- c.2000 BCE (Chalcolithic decline)
- Rediscovered
- 1973–76 G.R. Sharma excavation (Allahabad University)
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.7000–6500 BCE
Earliest Neolithic cord-marked ware with wild rice
c.6500–3500 BCE
Domesticated rice impressions on pottery, wattle houses, three-fold sequence
1973–76
Allahabad University excavation; Sharma claims 7000 BCE rice
On the ground
Structures & features
24.9080° N · 82.0330° E · 105 m · 2 mapped features
Neolithic Hut Floor Horizon
settlementWattle-and-daub hut floors with rice-tempered pottery and hearths at mound center
24.9083° N · 82.0332° ERice Impressions Pottery Scatter
ceramic scatterCord-marked sherds with Oryza husk impressions on southern slope
24.9077° N · 82.0328° E