Ancient civilisation traced in Bengal village

8220;The discovery indicates that an ancient civilisation existed in this part of Bengal and the stone tools, besides agate, quartz, chert and chalcedony were found to be used by a hunting tool-producing community in the pre-historic period,8221; state Archaeology Department8217;s Superintendent Amal Roy said over telephone from the excavation site at Haatpara mouza in Sagardighi block.

Roy said that some fossilised fish fins and seeds were also found in the excavation site spread over an 1,000-metre area on a cultivable land along Santhalpara.

Noting that it was a one-and-a-half-year-long effort that led to the discovery of the stone tools, Roy said 2-3 metres of digging through the 8216;yellowish soil8217; yielded the results.

State archaeologists carried out the excavation with the guidance of geo-archaeologists S N Rajguru and B C Deodare of Deccan College, Pune, he said.

8220;The finds have been closely examined and found to be beyond Holocene period much over 10,000 year-old,8221; he added.

The archaeologist said that the excavation of the stone tools had dropped broad hint that an ancient civilisation existed in this part of Bengal.