Kana Archaeological Site

Kana is an Upper Palaeolithic site in Purulia district, at the base of an inselberg roughly 500 metres north-west of Kana village. Geologically it lies in the Kumari Basin's Manbazar Formation, and it is known for microblade artefacts left by anatomically modern humans around 42,000 years ago. On the basis of optically stimulated luminescence dating, it is described as the oldest archaeological settlement yet found in West Bengal.

Kana and the nearby site of Mahadebbera came to light during the first round of excavations in the Ajodhya Hills in 1998–99, and a second round followed in 2012–13. The site covers some 22,500 square metres at the base of the hill, where a reddish-brown silt layer about 5–6 metres thick is exposed. Artefacts came from between 1.34 and 1.63 metres down, made mostly of chert and felsic tuff.