Abrupt Holocene Climatic Change in Northwestern India: Disappearance of the Sarasvati River and the End of Vedic Civilization - Abrupt Climate Change: Mechanisms, Patterns, and Impacts - page 186

Figure 7. Fossilized bamboo blind or curtain (sample size 37 26
cm). After Paliwal [2011].

and continued to rise with a very high rate during 10.0 - 7.5 ka
[Hashimi et al., 1999]. Hypersaline conditions prevailed in
the region during 20 - 13 ka. It is also believed that Bap-
Malar (Jodhpur) and Kanod (Jaisalmer) playas originated
during the Last Glacial Maximum [Deotare et al., 2004],
and both of these playas host thick-bedded gypsum deposits
at the lower levels. At Kanod, sediments from the depth of
180 cm have been dated at 8701 ± 198 years B.P., and
another from a depth of 250 cm has been dated at 9567 ±
159 years B.P. Here gypsum occurs from 176 to 250 cm.
Evaporite sequences have been reported from the Holocene
period at Lunkaransar (H2) and from the Pleistocene period
at Jamsar [Sinha-Roy et al., 1998]. If the gypsum deposit of
Jamsar is coeval with the Kanod gypsum, the artifact should
be of this age.

Figure 6. Quaternary succession of the Thar Desert. After Sinha-
Roy et al. [1998], reprinted with permission of Geological Society
of India.

be made of cotton. The man-made artifact was deposited
along with gypsum in the lake and was later fossilized. The
sample is 37 26 cm in size. The partly preserved molds and
casts of the bamboo sticks in the sample are about 26 cm long
but originally might have been much longer. The impres-
sions of the casts of the bamboo sticks are not perfectly
rounded but are slightly angular in cross section. Their di-
ameter ranges from 4 to 5 mm. The distance between two
thread string lines varies from 3.5 to 4.5 cm. The diameter of
the thread/string is about 2 mm. The two supporting sticks at
the top and bottom of the structure are slightly at and are

about 5 mm in thickness.
The Younger Dryas to early Holocene (12.9

11.5 ka),
marking a warming period in the northwestern part of India,
is quite interesting from a climate variation point of view.
During the end of the Pleistocene to the Holocene, there was
a sudden warming event that took place in the region. Sea
level, low at 100 m depth at 14.5 ka, rose to 80 m at 12.5 ka

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Figure 8. Enlarged view of the fossilized bamboo curtain showing
molds of bamboo sticks neatly woven with the thread (coin size
2.6 cm). After Paliwal [2011].