Daimabad - The Southernmost Site of the Indus Valley Civilization

Daimabad - The Southernmost Site of the Indus Valley Civilization

Daimabad is the southernmost archaeological site of the Indus valley civilization. It lies on the left bank of Pravara River, a tributary of Godavari River, in Maharashtra. The site was discovered by B. P. Bopardikar in 1958, and later excavated by teams of Archaeological Survey of India. The site reveals that late Harappan civilization extended to Deccan plateau.

The exacavations at Daimabad reveals five-fold cultural sequence with a break in Period II (Late Harappan) and Period III (Daimabad) culture. The finding is based on the characterstics of painted ceramics.

Period I: Savalda culture (before 2300/2200 BCE)
Period II: Late Harappan culture (2300/2200-1800 BCE)
Period III: Daimabad culture (1800-1600 BCE)
Period IV: Malwa culture (1600-1400 BCE)
Period V: Jorwe culture (1400-1000 BCE)

The site seems to be abandoned after Jorwe culture.

Diamabad Hoards
The most interesting discovery from this site was not from the well-established archaeologists, but it was made by the members of Bhil community. They found four bronze hoards: 1. Diamabad man (a sculpture of a chariot, yoked to two oxes, driven by man), 2. water buffalo, 3. elephant, and 4. rhinoceros.

The Diamabad man hoard is one of the most interesting and intruiging objects ever found in the exacavations of Indus Valley Civilization sites. It is linked to earlier form of Pashupati, the Proto Shiva.