Island Born Researcher Dr. Pronob Sircar Discovers New Shell-Midden of Great Andamanese

via Andaman Chronicle, 15 July 2023: Archaeologist Dr. Pronob Kumar Sircar and his team have discovered a previously unseen shell-midden in the deep rainforest of South Andaman, believed to be a significant inhabited area of the Great Andamanese, with further research expected to provide more insights into this new finding.

The area name Sippi Tekri in Middle Andaman is based on a large kitchen-midden or shell-midden. After Zarine Cooper no one has yet made any attempt to pay visit to such known and unknown middens and document the same. Such sites are rich in pottery, faunal remains and in stone and bone artefacts.

At the Chouldari site, the tall, 2000-year-old mound yielded, in the earlier phase of occupation, molluscan species belonging to rocky shores and estuaries, whereas at a later stage the mud flats in the littoral and sublittoral zones were increasingly exploited. The species of bivalves included Marcia Recens, Anadara Granosa and Scapharca (Cunearca) Congrua (Cooper 1990). The chemical and mineral analysis of soil from this site, as also the X-ray diffraction studies of shells, revealed a period of abandonment spanning several centuries.

Source: Island Born Researcher Dr. Pronob Sircar Discovers New Shell-Midden of Great Andamanese