Landscape Archaeology of Lower Godavari Valley and Impact of Polavaram Dam, Andhra Pradesh, India: Heritage Perspectives and Conservation Prospects

The Lower Godavari River Valley is categorized into five different landscapes based on geophysical and cultural resources: floodplains, plateau-uplands, hill tracts, delta, lowlands, and coastal plains, to undertake the present study. The review of archaeological and ethnographic studies in respect of these landscapes has revealed islands of inquiry pertaining to the past as well as the present cultural mosaic of the valley. Concepts of landscape and culturescape are used to understand the culture–historical relevance of these studies in the context of dam construction on the Godavari at Polavaram. The basic premise is that the dam, on completion, leads to the submergence of human habitations together with heritage relics in the catchment area and scale down of heritage relics in the command area due to landscaping for canal irrigation. The prehistoric, protohistoric, and ancient culture-bearing sites are reviewed to consolidate culture–historical characters and heritage-centric tribal–rural, rural–urban continuum issues, and the importance of further documentation and conservation of tangible and intangible heritage of the riverine and maritime landscapes. The study revealed that the main river course has preserved very scanty evidence of Paleolithic cultures, but an abundant number of megalithic graves on either bank, Mesolithic sites in profusion adjacent to tribal habitations of hill tracts, early historic evidence denoted by Buddhist aramas in the delta, and coastal landscape preserved prehistoric and protohistoric phases of cultures. Among these, protohistoric and living megaliths in the catchment area and shrines of little traditions and sacred groves of the command area are a concern for culture conservation and are paramount in understanding the tribe–rural–urban nexus, concepts of little-great traditions, hydraulic cultures, canal impacts, and continuum. The study remarks that multidisciplinary holistic studies are important in the context of vulnerability of tangible and intangible heritage due to the impact of dam and water dynamics. The ephemeral rivers of the study area present a spectrum of Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, and megalithic cultures, and the absence of archaeological evidence on either side of the Krishna-Godavari delta and Kolleru Lake is attributed to the wetland landscape. Among five identified landscapes, three paths of cultural progression from plateau uplands to lowlands and coastal lands through valley floodplains are delineated. The study concludes that the lower Godavari River has been the buffer or fusion zone between south and north as far as pre- and protohistoric cultures of India are concerned.