Discovery of an ancient shell-midden of the Great Andamanese in Andaman Islands
Discovery of an ancient shell-midden of the Great Andamanese in Andaman Islands Under a long term project on the human settlement on the Andaman Islands between 1989 and mid90s, cave sites and shell- middens including a shell-midden at Chouldari were examined by Dr. Zarine Cooper, a Pune based archaeologist and evidence indicates that the islands were settled well over 2000 years ago and all the main islands have traces of ancient habitation. The area name Sippi Tekri in middle Andaman is based on a large kitchen- midden or say shell-midden. After Zarine Cooper no one has yet made any attempt to pay visit to such known and unknown middens and documented the same. Such sites are rich in pottery, faunal remains, and in stone and bone artifacts. At the Chauldari 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 w...