FORAMINIFERA are preferentially marine micro-organisms and very sensitive to the slightest changes in environment. Because of this property, they have been used extensively in pollution monitoring and because of their fossilisation potential, in paleoclimatic reconstructions.
Since the common aim of paleoclimatic studies and archaeology lies in the illumination of the past, particularly beyond the written history, it is apparent to bring coherence between the two.
Number of attempts have been made to understand the distribution and ecology of foraminifera along the western continental margin of India to confirm the climatic inferences drawn through archaeological studies and even to offer explanations for some of the archaeological controversies peculiar to Indian region.
Application of foraminifera in the field of Marine Archaeology can be classified into two main categories i.e. (i) event related to sea level fluctuations and (ii) changes in paleoprecipitational history. Few examples can be cited here to exhibit applicability of foraminifera in archaeology.
With the help of foraminiferal occurrence it was conclusively proved that the rectangular structure at Lothal (Harappan Settlement) was a dockyard (first Naval dock yard) of the world as claimed by archaeologists) and not a fresh water storage tank. The studies also provided support for archaeological inference about great floods at 2000 and 1500 BC. The updated sea level curve for the Arabian Sea region helped to offer explanation of the most recent finding of the Neolithic settlements in the Gulf of Cambay area, Gujarat.
(The writer can be contacted at nigam@nio.org)
