Golabai Sasan (or Golbai Sasan) is a village in Khurda District,

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sc ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

at . It is known for its medieval temple architecture. This settlement site is located on the north bank of the

Malaguni River The Malaguni River (Mallaguni, Malangui) is a Nullah or hill stream in Khurda District, Odisha state of India. It originates on the border of Ganjam District and Khurda District. It flows northeast, east and southeast through Khurda Tahasil, p ...

, North of

Chilika Chilika Lake is a brackish water lagoon, spread over the Puri, khordha and Ganjam districts of Odisha state on the east coast of India, at the mouth of the Daya River, flowing into the Bay of Bengal, covering an area of over . It is the b ...

lake. Trial excavations in 1991, showed a succession of

Chalcolithic The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', " copper" and ''líthos'', " stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin ''aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regul ...

and

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

assemblages, presumably dating to the 2nd and 1st millennia BCE. Sinha described the pottery and wares being of dull red and grey colours. Excavations in 2003 and 2011, conducted by Prof. RK Mohanty of Deccan College and a multi-national team, showed that the site dates to the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several part ...

Period (c.3500 BP). Archaeobotanical analysis showed that the people living at this site grew and ate

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly '' Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and ''Porteresia'', both wild and domestica ...

browntop millet ''Brachiaria ramosa'' (L.) Stapf (browntop millet) is a perennial millet grass belonging to the grass family ( Poaceae). It is native to South Asia, where it is traditionally cultivated as a cereal crop. The reconstructed Proto-Dravidian Pr ...

, mung bean,

horsegram ''Macrotyloma uniflorum'' (horsegram, also known as horse gram, kulthi bean, gahat, hurali, or Madras gram) is a legume native to tropical southern Asia, known for its distinct taste and texture, widely used legume in many cuisines. It is also kn ...

pigeon pea The pigeon pea (''Cajanus cajan'') is a perennial legume from the family Fabaceae native to the Old World. The pigeon pea is widely cultivated in tropical and semitropical regions around the world, being commonly consumed in South Asia, Southeas ...

and

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is nati ...

fruits. Zooarchaeological analysis shows that they ate

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...

nilgai The nilgai (''Boselaphus tragocamelus'') (, literally meaning "blue cow") is the largest Asian antelope and is ubiquitous across the northern Indian subcontinent. It is the sole member of the genus ''Boselaphus'' and was described by Peter ...

chital The chital or cheetal (''Axis axis''; ), also known as the spotted deer, chital deer, and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent. It was first described and given a binomial name by German naturalist Johann Christian Po ...

, wild

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus ''Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...

and possibly buffalo. They used animal bone and horn to make tools, such as bone harpoons and digging sticks. They lived in circular huts made from wood, with rammed earth floors. Golbai Sasan,

Sankarjang Sankarjang (20°52’08“N; 84°59’19“E), Odisha, India is an archaeological site near Angul, a former cemetery and settlement with large, worked stones but no one knows what they were made for, although some people think they might have be ...

, Gopalpur, Ostapur, Suabarei and Khambeswaripali are some of the main sites in

dating to the Neolithic-Chalcolithic periods. The recovery of many woodworking adzes and other artifacts from

Chilika Lake Chilika Lake is a brackish water lagoon, spread over the Puri, khordha and Ganjam districts of Odisha state on the east coast of India, at the mouth of the Daya River, flowing into the Bay of Bengal, covering an area of over . It is the b ...

denotes that Golabai was a boat-building center especially boitas which were prominent in the maritime history of Kalinga.

Transport

Golabai railway station Golabai railway station is a railway station on Khurda Road–Visakhapatnam section, part of the Howrah–Chennai main line under Khurda Road railway division of East Coast Railway zone. It is situated at Golabai in Khordha district in the Indian ...

is situated on the Khurda Road–Visakhapatnam section of

Khurda Road railway division Khurda Road railway division is one of the three divisions of East Coast Railway Zone (ECoR) of the Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates ...

of Indian Railways.

References

{{reflist Villages in Khordha district History of Odisha Archaeological sites in Odisha Maritime history of India