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Ancient site locally known as Ladmod

The site was first explored by M. N. Deshpande of the ASI and regular excavations were undertaken by H.D. Sankalia of Deccan College, Pune in 1954 to 1959. The excavation has revealed sequence of six cultural periods as follows- Period I - Lower Paleolithic, Period II - Middle Paleolithic, Period III Chalcolithic, Period IV Early Historical, Period V - Indo-Roman, Period VI Muslim- Maratha. The remarkable finds of the prehistoric periods, i.e., the first two periods, a part from the usually occurring stone tools are fossils. The chalcolithic phase at Nevasa mainly belongs to Jorwe culture. The typical Jorwe pottery and other cultural assemblage were discovered here. An interesting find of this phase is the discovery of nearly 131 burials of children and adults under the floor-laves of houses. The Chalcolithic phase is dated between circa 1500-1000 BC. During the early historic period, the Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW) and Russet Coated Painted Ware, Coarse and Slipped red pottery, ten-slipped ware and a kind of red-and black ware found. The beginning of this period is placed in the first half of 2nd century BC based on finds of Punch marked coins, uninscribed cast coins and coins of Shri Satavahana. The period V is characterized by the find of red polished ware, Megaron Ware, Rouletted Ware and Amphorae. The coins of Gautamiputra and Yajna Satakarni and imitations of Roman bullae particularly of the coins of the Roman Emperor Augustus. On the basis of C14 dates the period has been placed from the 1st century AD. The site was abandoned after 3rd century A.D. and reoccupied during 14th century.