Thread by @fc_conesa

A whole pandemic later we're back in India to get things ready for the Kachchh Archaeological Project, with the support of @FundacionPalarq 💫

Here's what we are up to! ⬇️

Hello from the Dept of Archaeology, University of #Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram 👋

We're working here with Profs Rajesh SV and Abhayan GS, directors of the excavations at the awesome burial site of Juna Khatiya in Kachchh, Gujarat

The site was partially excavated between 2019-2020 - until the global lockdown stopped the ongoing work

Dozens of Early Harappan burials have been documented so far - a cemetery dating back to over 5000 years ago!

These days we're sampling materials from the 2019-20 seasons

We've collected pottery samples for residue analyses from a variety of shapes and forms - pots, dishes, beakers.... Muhasin knows them all ⬇️

Samples are ready for analyses at the @AMBI_Lab and @imfcsic - can't wait for @thethinsection and Juanjo's results!

We've also been looking for plant remains in flotation samples

Here Abhayan, Rajesh and Juanjo look quite focused on their work 🌱🔬

There's been time for mapping and survey preparation as well - Kachchh has impressive cultural landscapes and #Indus sites

Here's a distribution of known and new potential sites in Kachchh, as they appear in historical topographical maps and satellite imagery 🛰️😍

Several #Indus sites appear as "deserted" in the old maps -> "a site which was inhabited in the past, but found uninhabited during field survey"

Many have names that suggest a fortified location, such as gadh (citadel) or kot (fort). Everything ready for the next survey!

And here's our office view these days! 🤩

We'll be leaving Thiruvananthapuram in a few days but hope to be back in India for the next excavation season at Juna Khatiya really soon!

@ICAC_cat @imfcsic @FundacionPalarq
#archaeology