An Ethnoarchaeological study of the Bhils of Nandurbar: Religious-Economic Outlook and Comparison with Deccan Chalcolithic Culture of Inamgaon

Manjiri Rajesh Joshi

Reconstructing the ideological and economic dimensions of Chalcolithic societies remains a methodological challenge in South Asian archaeology, particularly when interpreting ritual behaviour and social organisation from material evidence alone. The Deccan Chalcolithic site of Inamgaon has yielded substantial data on settlement organisation, subsistence strategies, and mortuary practices. There are parallels between Chalcolithic communities and contemporary tribal groups such as the Bhils, largest tribal communities residing in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. This research mainly focuses on the Bhils of Nandurbar district - villages that are in close proximity to Savalda and Prakashe. This study focuses on the religious–economic aspects among the Bhils of Nandurbar and evaluates its interpretative potential for understanding archaeological evidence from Inamgaon. Drawing on ethnographic accounts and published excavation data, this study explores themes such as ancestor worship, fertility symbolism, mortuary practices, and socio-economic life. Rather than claiming direct cultural continuity, it uses ethnographic analogy as a comparative tool to thoughtfully examine both similarities and differences between contemporary communities and the archaeological record. By foregrounding the embeddedness of subsistence practices within symbolic systems, this study seeks to refine interpretations of social organization in the Deccan Chalcolithic and contribute to ongoing debates on analogy, continuity, and the reconstruction of intangible cultural systems in protohistoric South Asia.