The Department of Archaeology and Ancient History of the M. S. University of Baroda carries on a systematic study of the material culture of India by exploring and excavating archaeological sites and publishes its finding in the M. S. University Archaeology series. In this series, this 17th Monograph presents the results of the excavations of Chalcolithic and Late Stone Age settlements around Kanewal lake. The results show very important relations of Late Stone Age and Chalcolithic groups, and throw new light on Chalcolithic rural settlements in Gujarat. I am sure that the scholars in the field will find this publication a useful one providing new data for Kheda district in particular and Gujarat in general.

The Department of Archaeology concentrates on the archaeology of Gujarat and in this effort it carries on village to village explorations, with a view to understand the archaeological potential of the area. For clear analysis of the sequence of cultures, it carries on systematic excavation of selected sites. Under this activity, excavations were conducted at Nagara in the Cambay Taluka of the Kaira district. The results are published in M. S. University Archaeology Series No. 10. After the encouraging results the district was carefully surveyed by Shri K. N. Momin. This survey revealed very interesting Chalcolithic settlements in the Khambhat Taluka (British name Cambay Taluka) of the Kheda district (British name Kaira Taluka). It was thought to study these settlements by a systematic excavation. The present report embodies the results of the excavations conducted near Kanewal lake in the jurisdiction of the village Valli of Khambhat Taluka. The excavations were conducted by Shri Momin, K. N., V. H. Sonawane, N. M. Khatri and C. U. Bhagat under the supervision of Prof. R. N. Mehta. The drawings were completed by Sarvashri R. J. Khatri, N. M. Khatri and D. B. Panchal. The photographs were taken by Shri N. M. Khatri and R. C. Sutaria. Shri V. H. Sonawane has prepared table of stone tools of Trench S-I. The enthusiastic reception given to our programme and the active help given by Darbar Shri Fatehsimha of Valli made our work easy. The willing cooperation of Darbar Shri Kesharisimha and Shri Gafurbhai who permitted us to excavate in their fields made our programme successful. We are grateful to them for their selfless interest in the work. We are grateful to Shri P. J. Madan, the Vice-Chancellor of our University by his active interest and support. We are grateful to Prof. S. M. Sethna, our Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Prof. V. A. Janaki, Professor in Geography for their keen interest in our work and their visit to our excavation camp. The authors are obliged to Shri W. H. Siddiqi, Superintendent, Western Circle, Dr. Margabandhu, the present Superintendent, Western Circle Archaeological Survey of India for their discussion on the site. We are grateful to Shri M. N. Deshpande and Shri B.K. Thapar, the Director and Jt. Director, Archaeological Survey of India for their keen interest in the project. We are grateful to the University Grants Commission for the financial assistance for printing the report.

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