A Neolithic Animal Butchering Floor from Budihal, Gulbarga District, Karnataka

A Neolithic Animal Butchering Floor from Budihal, Gulbarga District, Karnataka

K. Paddayya, P.K. Thomas and P.P. Joglekar

Department of ArchaeologyDeccan CollegePune411 006

Abstract

Prolonged field research at the ashmound site of Budihal has led to the identification of severalfunctionally differentiated areas. This article highlights the features associated with a structural facilitycreated by the Neolithic inhabitants for butchering animals.

Introduction

Budihal is one among a group of well over a hundredashmound sites found thus far in northern Karnataka andthe neighbouring districts of Andhra Pradesh. Since 1989-90 detailed surface surveys and excavations have made itpossible to reconstruct various aspects of this Neolithicpastoral settlement, and the background for its selection tounderstand the problem of ashmounds, particularly thevarious functional units recognised at Budihal have alreadybeen published (Paddayya 1991-92; 1993a; 1993b).Thispaper focuses on the presence of a distinctive structuralfacility consisting of a well-prepared floor or platform forbutchering animals and related activities.

The Budihal ashmound is located immediately to thenorth of the village on a sandstone plateau covered withthin brown soil and hence supports poor agriculture.However, the area has a fairly thick cover of grasses andshrubs (over 20 species) suitable for cattle and sheep/goatpastoralism which still forms an integral part of the localway of life. The site is defined on its northern and easternsides by 15 to 20 m deep ravines containing perennialwaterpools created by seep-springs, which by virtue oftheir geological origin must have been active in ancienttimes also.

The site is a complex of four localities (I-IV) separatedfrom each other by vacant patches of farmland andmeasures 400 m north- south and 300 m east-west (Fig. 1).Each locality consists of ash as well as habitation deposits.An area of about 4.5 ha, forming the extreme westernportion of the site, is occupied by an extensive workshop ofthe chert blade industry. This portion, covered with brownsoil, is completely free from Neolithic pottery and faunalremains but the surface is littered with a tremendousamount of lithic material (chert nodules, fluted cores,-

hammerstones, blades, debitage made up of flakes andchips) pertaining to chert working. It is likely that thefinished products from this workshop were sent to otherNeolithic settlements in the Shorapur Doab and evenbeyond. It is also interesting to note that on the sandstoneboulders forming part of the edge of the eastern ravine overa dozen small and big grinding grooves were noticed; thesewere obviously meant for processing (grinding andpolishing) artefacts of the ground stone industry.

Locality I is the principal component of the site andoccupies an area of 1.8 ha. Five seasons of field researchcomprising both a surface survey and excavation haveexposed various functional units within the locality (Fig.2). This is the first time that such intra-site patterning hasbeen recognized at a Neolithic site in India.

The ash deposits (total extent: 0.5 ha) occupy a centralposition within the locality and form a mound-like featurewith its middle portion rising to a maximum height of 3 mabove the ground level. The stratigraphical profilesexposed in the two trenches (Trenches 1 and 9) excavatedin this area, coupled with the surface observations, and thechemical analyses of sediments (Deotare and Kshirsagar1993), showed clearly the existence of two distinct partswithin this portion of the locality: a cattle penning area onthe east and a cow dung disposal area on the west.Although it went unnoticed by the excavator, this two-folddivision also exists at Utnur (Allchin 1963: 12).

The eastern part (3000 m2 in extent) had a levelledappearance and the stratigraphical profile (total thickness:1.3 m) consisted of three layers of decomposed cow dung,two layers of variegated burnt blackish soil and one layermade up of 8 to 10 lenses of soft or granular ash. Thelevelled and rammed surface of natural soil (brown soil)and the thin, levelled and horizontally continuous nature of

Man and Environment XX (2) - 1995

CONTOUR MAPOF

BUDIHALBIST. ailLBAROA. KARMATAKA

Fig. 1: Contour map (in metres with intervals of 25 cm) of Budihal showing the relative positions of Localities I to IV, chert workshop andgrinding grooves

24

A Neolithic Animal Butchering Floor from Budihal

PERPHERY OFASHMOUND AREA

EXTENT OFUPPER PARTOF ASHMOUND-

EXTENT OF-VrTMFCDASH

\' ^m T i: i ' m

\7TR-4

\M

TR-4

X\ HABITATION

t AREA

EXTENT OF HABITATION

M

. CM-TRACK man VU.AGC WONML

LOCALITY NO. IOF

BUDIHAL

Fig. 2: Map of Locality I at Budihal showing the relative positions of the ashmound and residential areas

the ash/cow dung layers suggest that this area witnessedmany episodes of cattle penning, in situ dung accumulationand burning. The stratigraphy of the basal portion of theprofile exposed in the western part (2000 m2 in extent) wasvery similar to that in the eastern part, but the upper halfconsisted of two thick and discontinuous layers of vitrifiedash (each varying from 40 cm to 1.2 m in thickness). Thesesediments were not formed in situ but represent excess cowdung deposits cleared from the penning area to the east anddumped here and burnt.

The settlement area (1.34 ha in extent) around the ashdeposits consisted of a light/dark grey deposit measuring50 to 60 cm in thickness. Six trenches (Trenches 2,4,5,6,7and 8) were excavated here, covering a total area of over600 m2 (Paddayya 1993b). A total of one dozen structureswere exposed in this area. One was a platform-like featurefor chert working and another was a storage place forpottery. The rest were round dwelling structures with lowwalls of stone blocks packed in mud. The excavation alsoexposed a total of 10 child burials in the residential area.

25

Man and Environment XX (2) - 7995

Fig. 3: View of the butchering floor (22 cm level, facing north) exposed in Trench 5 at Locality I, Budihal. Note the additional area on theleft and right sides of the trench, now occupied by a modern road and the old village cart-track respectively

The age of the children ranged from a few months to a fewyears; they were, either buried in pits or interred in pots.

The cultural material from both the ashmound area andthe residential sector was purely Neolithic in character andcompared well with the evidence from other Neolithic sitesin the Shorapur Doab (Paddayya 1973). It consisted of redand grey pottery, stone artefacts belonging to the peckedand ground tradition as well as a chert blade industry, asmall number of bone tools including axe-heads, andornaments comprising beads of shell, bone and semi-precious stones. Flotation of soil samples led to theidentification of carbonized fruit stones of three wild plantspecies (the Indian jujube, the Indian cherry and the emblicmyrabolans), and also a few grains of domestic horsegramwhich is well suited to the semi-arid climate and is stillgrown in the region.

Already 11 radiocarbon dates are available for thevarious strata forming part of the ashmound and settlementarea. These range between 1900-1400 B.C. (uncalibrated)and as such confirm the Neolithic character of the site.

The excavation produced faunal remains belonging toabout 15 domestic and wild species. The preponderance ofbones of domestic cattle in the assemblage proves forcertain that the ancient inhabitants of Budihal specializedin cattle pastoralism and, to a lesser extent, relied on sheep,goat, buffalo and fowl. They also exploited a variety ofwild fauna comprising the nilgai, the blackbuck, the four-horned antelope, the monitor lizard, tortoises, birds andaquatic species like fish, crabs and molluscs.

Considering the fact that cattle and other domesticanimals played a dominant role in the food economy of the

26

A Neolithic Animal Butchering Floor from Budihal

**v j, • ' V 'T\ ...-

**.. '-•-,' 7, v^^'i :..:. Y^ .'

..':. S^ l*" : : • Sg1™ 3 4U»W <s, • , !

Fig. 4: Close view of the flooring made up of kankar-like material exposed at 22 cm level in Trench 5 at Locality 1, Budihal

people and were in all likelihood also an aspect of theirideology, as exemplified by cow dung burnings and severalinstances of the intentional burial of the skull and otherbones of cattle, it is not at all surprising that the inhabitantsof a major settlement like Budihal felt the need for aregular structural facility where butchering and associatedactivities could be conducted. One of the trenches yieldedunmistakable evidence of such a facility.

Butchering Floor

This distinctive structural feature was identified in Trench5 excavated in the settlement area on the southern side ofthe ashmound and covering a total of 129m2 over threefield seasons.

An important feature of this facility is that there areclear indications in the field that it originally covered amuch larger area measuring up to 250 m2 (Fig. 3). In thearea on the eastern side of Tr. 5, now partly occupied byone of the roads laid on the site as part of the proposed newBudihal settlement, and partly by one of the roadsidedrainage ditches, many bone pieces as well as patches offlooring material were noticed on more than one occasion.From these clues it would seem that an additional area of40 to 60 m2 was a part of the site. Likewise, on the westernside of the trench, adjoining the old village cart-track, alarge amount of faunal and lithic material was found in the

Fig. 5: Chopping tools from the 20 cm level, Trench 5 at Locality I,Budihal. No. 1 of dolerite; No. 2 of chert and No. 3 of limestone

27

Man ami Environment XX (2) - 1995

Fig. 6: Stone artefacts from the 20 cm level. Trend) 5 at LocalityI. Budihal. Nos. 1 and 3, limestone chopping tools; No. 2, cherthammcrstonc

Fig. 7: Chert knives from the 20 cm level, Trench 5 at LocalityBudihal

area dug out by villagers for soil quarrying purposes. Thisarea also measured 40 to 60 nr. Thus, it is estimated thatthe original area covered by the structural feature underconsideration would have measured anywhere between 200to 250 in2.

In the trench soft greyish soil similar to the deposit inthe settlement area was found up to a depth of 20 cm belowthe surface. It yielded pottery and other material typical ofthe Neolithic culture. What is most significant is that at thisdepth a thin flooring of kankar-like material was found inmost of the grids of the trench. On careful examination itwas found that this floor varied from 2 to 5 cm inthickness. The kankar-like sediment used for preparing itwas spread on the brown soil littered with an amount ofstone rubble and the surface was then rammed. The floorwas intact wherever it had some thickness but wasotherwise broken up (Fig. 4). The chemical analyses(Deotare and Kshirsagar 1993) show clearly that this hard,kankar-like substance is made up of fine ash, clay and tinybits of potsherds, bone and charcoal, all mixed with waterand then spread over the soil and rammed well in order toobtain a hard working surface. In South Indian archeologythis is probably the earliest instance of the preparation ofan artificial plaster.

The trench was divided into one-metre grids in orderto obtain the maximum amount of information bothhorizontally and vertically and the excavated materialplotted piece by piece on two digging levels (20 cm and 22cm exposed in the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasonsrespectively). Considered thus the archaeological recordfrom the latter has considerable importance both in termsof spatial extent and depth, and therefore it is probable thatwe are dealing with a palimpsest where a series of episodesof use of the facility is involved and not with the fall-out ofa single episode of use.

Significant differences were noticed in the character offinds from the two levels of this trench and thearchaeological material from other trenches dug in thesettlement area. First, this trench was totally lacking inhouse plans and other structural features, nor was there anyevidence of burials. Secondly, cultural material such aspottery and debitage from chert working (found in othertrenches dug in the occupation area) occurred in extremelynegligible quantities on this floor. Chopping tools,hammerstones of limestone and dolerite and large knife-like blades of chert (Fig. 5-7) comprised the main culturalmaterial from this floor. Thirdly, there were also significantdifferences in the faunal material from the two contexts.The density of bones on this floor was much higher than inthe dwelling area.

Furthermore, this material shows thick kankar-likeencrustations on bone surfaces and basically seems torepresent primary or first-level discard after butchering and

28

A Neolithic Animal Butchering Floor from Budihal

Fig. 8: Fragments of cattle long bones from 20 cm level, Trench 5 at Locality I, Budihal, with oblique/vertical marks of chopping

dismembering, whereas the bones from the residential areaform part of the meal debris. The body parts representedincluded skull and jaw pieces, proximal and distal ends oflong bones, ribs, vertebrae, fragments of the pelvis andscapula and the lower extremities of limb bones (carpalsand tarsals, metapodia and phalanges). The animalsrepresented include mainly cattle (up to 95%) but somebones of sheep, goat, buffalo and wild animals are alsoavailable in the collection. What is even more interesting, isthat many of these bones have taphonomic marks resultingfrom chopping, splitting and cutting obviously involvingthe use of heavy-duty tools mentioned above for processingcarcasses (Fig. 8). All these strands of evidence, takentogether, prove that this artificially prepared floor wasrepeatedly used for butchering.

A detailed analysis of the distribution pattern and otheraspects of both faunal and cultural material found on thefloor is under way along the lines adopted by Lyman(1987; 1994, Chapter 8) and Fisher (1995) for studyingbutchering, but already it is possible to draw attention tocertain important features. First, in both the 20 cm and the22 cm levels several clusters of bones and stone tools couldbe identified. The former had at least half a dozen clusters(each measuring 3 to 6 nr in extent) of bones and culturalmaterial. For example, in one of these clusters covering an

area of 3 to 4 nr (grids M 1 -2 and N 2-4) the lowerextremities of a hindleg of Bos indicus were found in anintact position (Figs. 9-10). A cluster like this one in alllikelihood represents the remnants of an individual episodeof butchering. Likewise, five or six clusters were noticedon the 22 cm level .

Fig. 9: Close view of the butchering floor (20 cm level) in Trench5 at Locality I, Budihal, showing the lower extremities of abovine hind leg

29

Man and Environment XX (2) - 1995

'

Fig. 10: Close view of butchering floor (20 cm level) in Trench 5at Locality I. Budihal, showing a concentration ofl i thic andfaunal material

Fig. 12: Close view of a burnt patch of the butchering floor witharchaeological and faunal material from the 20 cm level, Trench 5at Locality I, Budihal

A second noteworthy feature concerns the presence ofseveral sandstone blocks on the floor. These vary in sizefrom 15 cm to 30 cm across and have flat sides whichprobably served as ideal working surfaces for butcheringpurposes. Some of these blocks show even traces oftrimming/shaping around their periphery.

Thirdly, the faunal material also includes a quantity ofsplinters and a number of bone artefacts shaped by flakingand grinding. These artefacts include scrapers and pointswhich were made on the spot and probably used formarrow extraction and hide-working (Fig. 11).

A fourth important feature noticed on the floorconcerns the presence of three small pits in the northern

part of the excavated area and two or three burnt patches onthe floor strewn with charcoal pieces (Fig. 12). The pitswere 20 to 25 cm wide and 15 to 20 cm deep and containedashy soil, and pieces of charcoal (one of the samples datedto about 1900 B.C.) and burnt bones. It is most likely thatroasting of meat and marrow cooking took place on thesite.

Finally, the fairly large horizontal extent of the floorand its location between the ashmound and settlementareas, its preparation with hard plastering material to serveas a stable paved surface for working purposes, theoccurrence of a large quantity of faunal materialrepresenting primary level discard and its spread as definiteclusters, all seem to point to the conclusion that this floorwas used as a community facility where on certainimportant occasions (ceremonial?) several animals werekilled and the meat shared among all the inhabitants of thesite.

Acknowledgements

We are thankful to Drs. M.D. Kajale, B.C. Declare, A.A.Kshirsagar, S.R. Walimbe and P.S. Joshi for theircollaboration in the Budihal research project. Likewise, weappreciate the assistance rendered by S.K. Aruni, K.S.Billal, V. Selvakumar, Suchi Dayal, S.B. Darsana, AshokOmble and C.S. Shendge. The illustrations wereexpeditiously prepared by B.S. Waghmode, S. Pradhan. S.Rokade, B.B. Dighe, D.V. Karanjkar, Sunil Jadhav andGirish Ghumatkar.

Fig. 11: Bone artefacts shaped by means of chipping and grindingfrom the 20 cm level, Trench 5 at Locality I, Budihal. No. 1,Scoop; No. 2. Point; Nos. 3 and 4, Chisel-ended artefacts

30

References

Allchin, F.R. 1963. Neolithic Cattle-Keepers of SouthIndia: a Study of the Deccan Ashmounds. Cam-bridge: Cambridge University Press.

Deotare, B.C. and A.A. Kshirsagar 1993. Ashmound atBudihal, Karnataka: a Chemical Approach,Karnataka, Bulletin of the Deccan CollegeResearch Institute 53: 39-48.

Fisher, J.W. Jr. 1995. Bone Surface Modifications inZooarchaeology, Journal of ArchaeologicalMethod and Theory 2: 7-68.

Lyman, R.L. 1987. Archaeofaunas and Butchery Studies: aTaphonomic Perspective, in Advances inArchaeological Method and Theory (M.B.Schiffer), Vol. 10, pp. 249-337. San Diego:Academic Press.

A Neolithic Animal Butchering Floor from Budihal

Lyman, R.L. 1994. Vertebrate Taphonomy. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.

Paddayya, K. 1973. Investigations into the NeolithicCulture of the Shorapur Doab, South India.Leiden: E.J. Brill.

Paddayya, K. 1991-92. The Ashmounds of South India:Fresh Evidence and Possible Implications,Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute51-52: 573-626.

Paddayya, K.' 1993a. Ashmound Excavations at Budihal,Gulbarga District, Karnataka, Man andEnvironment 18: 57-87.

Paddayya, K. 1993b. Further Field Investigations atBudihal, Gulbarga District, Karnataka, Bulletin ofthe Deccan College Research Institute 53: 277-322.

31