The Chalcolithic site of Navdatoli, on the Narmada opposite Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh, was excavated by:

• Sankalia. Navdatoli was excavated in the 1950s by the archaeologist Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankalia (H. D. Sankalia) of the Deccan College, Pune.

About Navdatoli:

• It is located on the southern bank of the Narmada river, opposite the town of Maheshwar, in the Khargone (West Nimar) district of Madhya Pradesh.
• It is one of the most important Chalcolithic sites of the Malwa region.
• It was occupied from about 2000 BCE to 1600 BCE or later.

Findings at Navdatoli:

• People lived in round and rectangular huts, with walls of wattle and daub (bamboo screens plastered with mud) and thatched roofs.
• They grew wheat, barley, rice, lentils, peas, linseed and other crops.
• This is one of the sites where a large variety of crops has been found together.
• They used copper tools as well as stone blades.
• They made the distinctive "Malwa ware", a painted pottery with black designs on a red or orange surface.
• They kept cattle, sheep, goats and pigs.

About H. D. Sankalia:

• He was born in 1908 in Bombay and died in 1989.
• He is called the "Father of modern Indian archaeology" by some, and was a pioneer of scientific prehistoric research in India.
• He led excavations at many prehistoric and Chalcolithic sites in western and central India.
• He wrote "Prehistory and Protohistory of India and Pakistan".
• He received the Padma Bhushan in 1974.

Chalcolithic cultures of central India:

• Kayatha culture (around 2000-1800 BCE).
• Malwa culture (around 1700-1400 BCE).
• Both are named after sites in the Malwa region.

Why not the other options?

• ✗B. Lal excavated Kalibangan, Hastinapur and other sites.
• ✗R. Rao worked mainly on Harappan sites in Gujarat.
• ✗R. Sharma led excavations at Kaushambi and in the Vindhyan region.