Nevasa
Chirki-Nevasa · Devachi Khede Nevasa · Pravara Neolithic Factory
Lower Paleolithic 400 Ka → Chalcolithic Jorwe 1400–1000 BCE → Megalithic → Satavahana → Medieval·Soan Acheulian → Jorwe Chalcolithic (Deccan) → Satavahana·🇮🇳 Maharashtra, Ahmednagar District, Nevasa Tehsil on Pravara tributary of Godavari (Deccan trap plain), India
About
About Nevasa
Multi-period factory-site on Pravara river in Ahmednagar — 3 m Acheulian handaxe horizon (400 Ka) at Chirki 3 km downstream, plus Nevasa Chalcolithic Jorwe village (1400–1000 BCE) excavated 1959–60 by H.D. Sankalia (Deccan College) and M.K. Dhavalikar at Navasa mound. Nevasa is the textbook Deccan sequence: Lower Palaeolithic Soan handaxes → Mesolithic → Chalcolithic Jorwe painted ware village (130 houses) → Megalithic → Early Historic Satavahana shrines → Medieval. The Jorwe phase yielded children's burials in urns with copper ornaments, proof of early paediatric funerary custom before Megalithic iron.
Why it mattersTextbook Deccan-period sequence from Acheulian factory to Jorwe Chalcolithic — Jorwe child urn custom is unique India-wide.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why Jorwe desertion synchronous with Harappan Late decline despite Deccan water?
- 02Chirki handaxe symmetry and cognition at 400 Ka
Theories
- 01Western Ghats–Pravara corridor as Palaeolithic factory axis; Jorwe dispersal model for Deccan megalithic
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.400 Ka Acheulian; Jorwe village c.1400 BCE
- Period
- Lower Paleolithic 400 Ka → Chalcolithic Jorwe 1400–1000 BCE → Megalithic → Satavahana → Medieval
- Culture
- Soan Acheulian → Jorwe Chalcolithic (Deccan) → Satavahana
- Builders
- Acheulian hunter-gatherers → Jorwe farmers → Satavahana donors
- Purpose
- Pleistocene factory-hunting camp and later Chalcolithic farming village on Pravara ford
- Abandoned
- c.1000 BCE Jorwe desertion (arid crisis); reoccupied Satavahana
- Rediscovered
- 1954 Sankalia–Ansari Acheulian discovery; 1959 Jorwe mound excavation; 1975 Chirki Acheulian finds
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.400 Ka
Chirki Acheulian handaxe factory on Pravara gravel
c.1400–1000 BCE
Jorwe village: 130 wattle-and-daub houses, painted ware, urn child burials
1954–75
Sankalia, Dhavalikar and Corvinus define Deccan Palaeolithic–Jorwe continuum
On the ground
Structures & features
19.5514° N · 74.9278° E · 510 m · 2 mapped features
Chirki Acheulian Factory Bed on Pravara Gravel
industrial400 Ka basalt handaxe knapping floor 3 km downstream, with Soan bifaces and cleavers in situ
19.5517° N · 74.9282° EJorwe Chalcolithic Village Mound (130 houses)
settlement1400 BCE painted Jorwe ware village with child urn burials under house floors and hearths
19.5509° N · 74.9272° E