1996-97 - Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany

BSIP
South-East Asia, in the Harappan cultural context of Punjab.
Commenced four visits to an arc~aeological site at Raja Nal-Ka- Tila, situated
in plateau region of Kaimur extensions in Sonebhadra District, Uttar Pradesh and
recovered an impressive array of archaeobotanical material, through excavations of
ancient chalcolithic (?) and Iron-Age deposits.
Chanchala
Srivastava
Anatomical investigations of the wood charcoals from Kudan, district Taulihawa,
Nepal - a site of Buddhist Period ( N.B.P.W. ) in the north-eastern part of Ancient
India dating between ca. 600 to 200 BC were continued. For this, processing, blockpreparation
and section-cutting of the remaining wood charcoals were done. Taxa
recovered are the same as reported earlier, belonging to tropical deciduous Sal forest
available locally in the Tarai and Bhabar region; chief components being Shorea robusta,
TerminaLia tomentosa and Adina cordifoLia.
Pollen analysis of seven soil samples from four trenches at Shikarpur, Rann of
Kutch - a Harappan site (ca 2500-2200 BC) in Gujarat, was carried out. The study
revealed mainly the pollen of non-arboreals such as Poaceae, Cyperaceae,
Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae, PoLygonum sp., etc. Arboreals are few represented
by the stray pollen of Ficus and Acacia species. The overall pollen assemblage shows
the open nature of vegetation with arid climatic condition in the region. However, the
frequent record of pollen of Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae indicates the prevalence
of saline condition around the site during the course of deposition of the sediments.
The study of pollen analysis supports the botanical investigations done earlier on macroremains,
viz., seeds, fruits and wood charcoals from Shikarpur in Harappan times.
Programme 7.6 : Aerospora of Lucknow: its biochemical and clinical
implications
Asha
Khandelwal
Daily monitoring of aerospora by employing Burkard air sampler, in the
premises of BSIP, Lucknow, revealed 18 types of pollen grains and 23 types of fungal
spores. The pollen encountered are of Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae,
EucaLyptus sp., Morus alba, HoLopteLea integrifolia, AiLanthus exceLsa, Putranjiva
roxburghii, Xanthium strumarium, Coriandrum sativum, etc. The fungal spores of
ALternaria, HeLminthosporium, CurvuLaria, CLadosporium, Cercospora, Epicoccum,
Nigrospora, ToruLa, TetrapLoa, BeLtrania, etc. were recorded in varying frequencies.
PROJECT 8
Programme 8.1
G. Rajagopalan
GEOCHRONOMETRY OF INDIAN ROCKS
Radiocarbon dating of Quaternary deposits and materials
of archaeobotanical importance
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