1995-96 - Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany

1995-96
cultures (1300-800 B.C.) in the region of Middle Gangetic Plain. The archaeological excavations
have been carried out at this site by the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture
and Archaeology, Benaras Hmdu University, Varanasi. Black slipped ware culture
(800-600 B.C.) was dominant at Waina Village and a thorough search was made at this level
to fill the information gap.
K.S. Saraswat
As only wood charcoal pieces were recovered from Kudan, district Taulihawa,
Nepal, a site of Buddhist Period (N.B.P.W.) dating between Ca 600 to 200 B.C., their processing,
block-preparation, section cutting and anatomical study were done.
TI,eir anatomical investigations revealed the finds of timbers belonging to Mimosaceae,
Fabaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Combretaceae and Verbenaceae. Mostly the tinlbers belonged
to the Shorea robusta, thereby revealing the selective choice of the ancient settlers for this
quality timber available locally in the Tarai and Bhabar region. The other timbers exploited
by them seem to belong to the species in mixed deciduous Sal forest.
Chanchala Srivastava
Programme 7.6
Objective
Aerospora of Lucknow : its biochemical and clinical implications
To daily monitor the aerospora of Luclmow and surrounding
areas for their seasonal and diurnal periodicity
To identify aeroallergens by biochemical and clinical investigations
To enumerate biota in the aerospora both quantity-wise and
quality-wise employing both gravimetric and volumetric techniques
in order to achieve precision in seasonal and diurnal
periodicity
Pollen analysed 20 soil, water and moss cushion samples collected from diffrent
parts of Lucknow city and around in order to find out the number and frequency of pollen
grains preserved in the sediments and their correlation with the aerospora of Lucknow.
Collected bulk pollen and fungal spores of many taxa for their clinicallbiochemical analyses
and recognised their allergenic significance.
Identified 40 types of fungal spores from house dust samples of seven allergic patients
of Lucknow. Aspergillus dominated the assemblage represented by eight species. The
other encountered taxa inelude Alternaria alternata, Chaelomium globosum, Cladosporium
sp., Curvularia lunata, Epicoccum sp., Fusarium oxysporum, Helminthosporium
sp., Memnoniella sp., Penicillium cilrunum. Rhizoctonia sp., Stachybotrys sp.. Trichoderma
sp., Mycelia sterilia, etc.
Asha Khandelwal
PROJECTS
Programme 8.1
GEOCHRONOMETRY
OF INDIAN ROCKS
Radiocarbon dating of Quaternary deposits and materials of
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