Didwana is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and the district headquarters of the Didwana-Kuchaman district in the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

. It is known as "the lion gateway" of

Marwar Marwar (also called Jodhpur region) is a region of western Rajasthan state in North Western India. It lies partly in the Thar Desert. 'Maru' is a Sanskrit word for desert. The word 'wad' literally means fence in Rajasthani languages. Engl ...

and "the archway" of Merta. It is mentioned in Puranic texts such as Abhanagri and Upakashi. It is situated on the northern side of Didwana Salt Lake and was administered as a

subdistrict A subdistrict or sub-district is an administrative division that is generally smaller than a district. Equivalents * Administrative posts of East Timor, formerly Portuguese-language * Kelurahan, in Indonesia * Mukim, a township in Brunei, Ind ...

Nagaur Nagaur (also Nagor and Nagore) is a city and municipal council in Nagaur district of the state of Rajasthan in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Nagaur District. The Nagaur city lies about midway between Jodhpur and Bikaner. Na ...

before becoming a separate district on 4 August 2023. The people of Didwana speak Marwadi, a

Rajasthani language The Rajasthani languages are a group of Western Indo-Aryan languages, primarily spoken in Rajasthan and Malwa, and adjacent areas of Haryana, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in India and South Punjab and the adjacent areas of Sindh in Pakistan. T ...

Geography

The city is divided into 40 wards which are Governed by Nagar Parishad Didwana.

Transport

Didwana is an important station on the Jodhpur-Delhi Broad gauge rail route of the North West Railway Jodhpur division.

Demographics

As of 2021, Didwana's population was 492,284. Literate people numbered 226,426, of whom 139,916 were male and 86,510 were female. Total workers were 155,998 out of whom 97,012 were men and 58,986 were women. 43,918 cultivators worked there including14,641 women. Male literacy was 70% and female literacy was 54%. 17% of the population were under 6 years of age.

Archaeological importance

In the Didwana region of

hand axe A hand axe (or handaxe or Acheulean hand axe) is a Prehistory, prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history. It is made from stone, usually flint or chert that has been "reduced" and shaped from a larger ...

s were discovered that resembled those in the Shiwalik Range. These date to around 400,000 years ago. Analysis of desert soil layers and other evidence uncovered a link between the prevailing climate and the technological progressions observed in the Paleolithic period. Didwana preserved

Lower Paleolithic The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3.3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears ...

artifacts in both primary and semi-primary contexts. Through geological

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

of aeolian and playa sediments, hand axes found in stratified contexts have been dated to the

Middle Pleistocene The Chibanian, more widely known as the Middle Pleistocene (its previous informal name), is an Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale or a Stage (stratigraphy), stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocen ...

. To understand the technological evolution of the Acheulian culture in this area, 301 hand axes from 10 locations were studied using Roe's methodology, supplemented with additional attributes. Variations in size, shape, and refinement were noted among the collections. Statistical analyses, diagrams, factor assessments, and cluster analyses indicated a technological evolution within the assemblages, helping to establish the chronology. These hand axes may align with cultural stages ranging from early Acheulian to very late Acheulian or even early

Middle Paleolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle P ...

References

{{Didwana Kuchaman district Cities and towns in Didwana Kuchaman district Archaeological sites in Rajasthan