14 Copper and Iron age: Features and Distribution

Ashutosh Saxena

Table of contents:

1.  Chalcolithic Culture Of India:

2.  Kayatha

3.  Ahar

4.  Malwa

5.  Jorwe

6.  Chronology Of Chalcolithic Cultures

7.   Iron Age

7.1 Northern India

7.2 Eastern India

7.3 Central India & Deccan

7.4 South India:

Learning Outcomes

• To understand the chalcolithic culture of India
• To know about the different sites of that time
• To know about the chronology of that time
• To gain knowledge about India during the Iron Age

1.   CHALCOLITHIC CULTURE OF INDIA:

The cultures which use both copper and stones as tools are called Chalcolithic Cultures (a period known as Copper Age). These chalcolithic cultures in India are rural cultures, which do not differ much in Economy but have a very distinct ceramic tradition. These chalcolithic cultures originated during 2nd millennium B.C.E.

V. Gordon Childe in his work “What Happened in History” has discussed in detail the development and advantages associated with the use of Copper. In principle this phase is applied to the pre-Harappans, but a large number of Chalcolithic cultures appeared after the decline of Harappans with distinct regional characteristics. These chalcolithic cultures appear largely in isolation from Harappan civilization.

On the basis of the material remains unearthed during excavations at various sites, the sequence of the chalcolithic sites can be given as:

1.   Kayatha Chalcolitic Culture

2.   Ahar Chalcolitic Culture

3.   Malwa Chalcolitic Culture

4.   Jorwe Chalcolitic Culture

2. KAYATHA: (Type Site) Discovered by Shri V.S. Wakankar

₪  Distribution – The region of Malwa Plateau fed by Rivers Tapti, Mahi the tributaries of Narmada and rivers Chambal and Betwa the tributaries of River Yamuna.

₪   Sites – the important chalcolithic sites of this region are Eran, Dist. Sagar; Ujjain, Dist Ujjain and Kayatha, Dist. Ujjain; Navdatoli.

₪    Pottery – the typical Kayatha ware is fine, sturdy and wheel made and has linear paintings designs in violet on a deep brown slip. Approximately 80% of the pottery is handmade. This ware is associated with the red-painted buff ware and red-combed ware. The other pottery traditions of Malwa are Greyish Black ware, coarse red ware and Tan ware.

₪    Tools and other Antiquities – The copper tools include two axes which were made by moulding technique. Apart for these 28 bangles of copper were also found. Two necklaces made of agate, crystal with 160 and 175 beads respectively are worth mentioning. 40,000 micro-steatite beads found in a pot are the important antiquities found from the excavations.

₪    Houses – the authors of this culture used big wooden planks in the form of pillars. The walls of the houses were made of bamboo sticks and were plastered with mud both from inside and outside. No example of unbaked or baked bricks has been notices. The plan of the houses were square, circular or rectangular. The floor was plastered with cow-dung and then was painted with lime. Evidences of earthen pots, pestles and hearths were found at almost all the sites of this culture.

3.  AHAR: (Type Site) Excavated by R.C. Agrawal during 1952-54.

₪    Distribution – the site of this culture are distributed in Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Ajmer, Jaipur of Rajasthan; Mandsor and Ujjain districts of M.P.

₪    Sites – the important Ahar culture sites are Balathal, dist. Udaipur; Ahar in dist. Udaipur; Gilund in Dist. Chittorgarh;

₪    Pottery – the authors of Ahar culture used various pottery traditions. These pottery traditions are divided into 7 groups. Out of these the black-and-red ware pottery is the characteristic pottery tradition of Ahar culture.

The pottery traditions of Period IA at Ahar are buff ware, black-and-red ware, polished grey ware and red ware. The Period IB shows the discontinuance of buff ware but other pottery traditions continues. Another specific characteristic of this sub-period is the Stone Ware.

₪    Tools – the tools of copper were made by striking the copper sheets. The main copper tools include Flat copper celts, knives, bangles, rings and copper rods. The authors of Ahar received copper from the Khetri mines of Jhunjhunu. R.C. Agrawal identified two sites namely Matoon and Umra nearly 12 km from Ahar where evidences of copper smelting was done.

₪   Housing Complexes – the authors of Ahar culture used stones and mud for building their houses. Stones were used to build the foundation of the houses. The walls were made of unbaked bricks and stones as evidenced from Balathal. On the basis of the plans of the houses it can be said that some of the houses were quite big. Houses were made in rectangular or square shapes. Gilund has reported the use of burnt bricks (which is an important evidence apart from the sites of Indus civilization.

₪   Agriculture and Animal husbandry – the economy was based on agriculture and animal husbandry. Evidences of charred grains, impression of husk are reported from the excavations. Rice was the main crop, apart from it evidences of gram, moong, wheat, and barley are also reported. Remains of cow, buffalo, goat, sheep and pig were found in the excavations.

4.    MALWA: It is more relevant to call this culture as Navdatoli Chalcolithic Culture as the Ahar Culture (by its type site) because the evidences of this culture were first reported from the excavations at Navdatoli and later from Maheshwar.

₪  Distribution – this culture is distributed in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

₪   Sites – Important sites of this culture are Navdatoli, Maheshwar, Nagda, Eran, Manoti and Dangwara in Madhya Pradesh; and Bahal, Songaon, Chandoli, Prakash, Inamgaon and Daimabad in Maharashtra.

₪   Pottery – the pottery of this culture is mainly represented by four traditions but the representative tradition of this culture is the light red or pink pottery with paintings in black. The prevalent pottery types are dishes with base, pedestalled cups, troughs, shallow dishes, Lota, pots etc.

₪  Tools and other Antiquities – the used of copper in Malwa culture was rather limited. Among the copper implements are Flat Celts, fish hooks, dagger and bangles etc. Several stone hand axes have been reported from the upper levels of Navdatoli. Beads of Agate, jasper, carnelian, shell and faience. Bangles of terracotta, ear-rings of copper etc. were also reported from most of the sites.

 

₪ Housing Complexes – the authors of this culture used wooden planks in their houses as pillars. The walls were made of bamboo sticks which were plastered with mud. No evidence of bricks (either burnt of unburnt) were noticed. The houses were circular, square or rectangular in plan. Excavations at Inamgaon and Daimabad have laid bare the evidence of Pit-Dwellings, which at times had stairs as in the case of Inamgaon. 28 housing complexes have been reported from Daimabad which have been categorized with specific names bases on the material evidences like the workshop, craftsman house, priest‟s house, religious house etc.

₪    Agriculture and Animal Husbandry – evidences of barley, wheat, gram, masoor, peas, rice, moong, urad etc. have been reported from the sites. Amongst the animals are the cow, buffalo, goat, sheep etc. Bones of deer and wild pig show that hunting of wild animals were also in vogue.

5.      JORWE: (Type Site)

₪    Distribution – In Maharashtra the sedentary rural life starts with the Chalcolithic Cultures. Leaving aside some parts of Vidharbha and Konkan all the other parts have laid bare the evidences of Malwa culture still Jorwe culture seems to be the specific culture of Maharashtra.

₪    Sites – the excavated sites of this culture are Prakash, Savaldah and Kauthe in District Dhule; Tekwada in District Jalgaon; Tuljapurgarhi in District Amravati; Daimabad, Nevasa, Nasik, Jorwe, Songaon and Apegaon in District Ahmednagar; Inamgaon, Chandoli and Walki in District Pune.

₪    Pottery – Many pottery traditions were prevalent in Jorwe culture out of which some started with the Jorwe; some pottery traditions were already present which the Jorwe people accepted which includes the Malwa pottery tradition.

The Jorwe pottery tradition is very distinct pottery types and ornamentation and also the technology. The representative pottery of Jorwe culture is red ware which has a red slip over the surface, some examples show that the pots were polished also. The pots are made with properly made clay still there is a fair percentage of sand. The fabric of the pots are thin to medium. The paintings over the pot are made in black colour and were executed before the firing process. The later phases at Jorwe show the occurrence of Black-and-red ware which indicates their contact with the Megalithic cultures of South India.

₪    Tools and other antiquities – the tools in Jorwe culture are very less although examples of copper axes, blades of knives, needles, bangles and Kohl sticks are notable. Among the antiquities the most famous are the Daimabad Bronzes. Most of the sites of Jorwe culture have reported microliths, they were found from almost all the houses of Daimabad and Inamgaon. Terracotta human and animal figurines have been reported form Prakash, Daimabad, Chandoli and Inamgaon. The terracotta figurine of a Lady and a bull is of special significance (called by some scholars as mother goddess with her mount, the bull). A copper spearhead with faint midrib and antennae hilt and a copper fish hook is reported from Chandoli. Copper beads strung upon a thread of silk with a cotton net as a necklace on a child burial was reported form Nevasa.

₪    Housing Complexes – the house plans of Jorwe culture are square. The corners of the wall were made round (as reported from Inamgaon). The walls were made with sticks plastered with mud. Various pots were reported from the housing complexes probably for storing the grains. Some houses also had pestle and querns. Excavations at Inamgaon has given a new dimension to the house building patterns of Jorwe people and can be associated with the later periods of Jorwe culturel. These housing complexes show that the Jorwe people have stopped making square houses and instead adopted the circular patterns for their houses.

₪    Agriculture and Animal Husbandry – Like other chalcolithic cultures the economy of Jorwe people was based on agriculture and animal husbandry. Evidences from Nevasa have proved that the Jorwe people cultivated the cotton. Inamgaon has reported the cultivation of barley, wheat, pea, masoor, moong and other lentils. Among the pet animals were cow, buffalo, goat, sheep and dog. An interesting pot from Inamgaon shows the depiction of a bullock cart with two bulls.

6. CHRONOLOGY OF CHALCOLITHIC CULTURES

On the basis of the aforementioned dates of different Chalcolithic cultures they can broadly be dated between 2000 – 700 B.C.E. At some sites the Chalcolithic culture is succeeded by Iron Age Cultures. Thus, the Chalcolithic Period acts as a transition period between the Stone Age to pure Metal Age.

7.  IRON AGE:

Considering at the archaeological evidences from the areas/sites using iron it can be seen that the sites are located in the vicinity of Iron ore mines. Evidences of iron smelting are noticed in the Gangetic plains of ancient period in the form of iron slag. Recent archaeological works in the areas of upper Ganga valley and doab, eastern India, Central India, Deccan and South India.

The critical analysis of these areas shall give an insight about the Iron age in India –

7.1 NORTHERN INDIA:

Earlier the Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW) were associated with Iron and were dated to 600 B.C. Indians were undoubtedly aware of the use of Iron during 6th century B.C. During the earlier excavations of Hastinapur and Ropar the iron was not found in association with Painted Grey Ware (PGW) and was concluded that iron was not used during PGW period. But the excavations at Alamgirpur, proved that iron implements were found along with this pottery tradition, this hypothesis was later proved by the excavations at sites like Ahichchhatra, Noh, Atranjikhera, Bateshwar, Khalaowa, Allahpur (Meerut) etc. Iron slag from Hastinapur and furnaces for smelting iron from Atranjikhera proves that the iron making process was done on regional basis.

The radiometric dates of PGW can be estimated to 9-8th century B.C and on the basis of archaeological evidences the date can be assumed to be 1000 B.C. It is pertinent to mention here that evidences from Noh and Jodhpura prove that the people of Black-and-red ware period, the preceding pottery tradition of PGW were using iron implements. In the light of such evidences the antiquity of iron use in India dates back to 1st millennium B.C.

7.2 EASTERN INDIA

In this are the iron is found to be associated with the Black-and-red ware pottery tradition succeeded by NBPW. Some of the important archaeological sites in this area from where the iron implements are reported are Chirand, Sonpur, Taradih, Pandu-rajardhibi and Mahisdal. The iron implements include arrow-heads, spear-heads, chisels, nails etc. Evidences of furnaces for smelting the metal have been reported from Pandu-rajardhibi. The C14 dates have estimated the use of iron in this area to approximately 750 B.C.

7.3 CENTRAL INDIA & DECCAN:

The area in this category includes the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh and Western region of Maharashtra. In this region the Chalcolithic period is followed by Black-and-red ware culture which is an iron age culture. The important site of this region are Nagda, Eran, Ujjain, Kayatha, Prakash, Bahal etc. The iron implements reported form this area are dagger, butt of an axe, spoon, flat axe, arrow-head, knives and sickle.

The Vidarbha region of Maharashtra with sites like Takalghat, Khapa, Mahurjhari, Junapani, Naikund and Khairwada have yielded evidences of Megalithic Culture. The iron implements reported from these sites are: Spear, arrow-heads, knives, chisels, swords, daggers, axes, fish hooks, saddle, nails etc. On the basis of C-14 dates of these sites the date of iron prevalence can be estimated to 7th century B.C. The representative pottery is black-and-red ware; other antiquities are copper implements, beads of semi-precious stones.

7.4 SOUTH INDIA:

Regions of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerela constitute the southern part of India. These area represent Iron through the Megalithic Burials. Nearly 30 types of iron implements were used by the authors of Megalithic Culture of South India. Among the noticeable implements are flat axes, spades, knives, hoe, sickles, tridents, saddles and lamps etc.

Mortimer Wheeler was of the view that this culture can be dated to 3rd-2nd century B.C. By that time the Northern India was witnessing the Mauryan kingdom and the southern part of India were acquainted with the use of iron with their contacts with the Northern territories. But the recent researches have estimated the use of iron in south India to 1000 B.C. which is based on the dates obtained from the excavations at Hallur, dist. Dharwad, Karnataka. Another site called Payampalli of Tamil Nadu has determined the date of Megalithic culture to 7th century B.C.

The archaeological evidences prove that in the regions of Northern and Southern India were using Iron during 1000 B.C. Earlier it was assumed that Iron and NBPW came into existence almost simultaneously but the excavations during the 20th century have proved that the use of iron was much before the NBPW came into existence i.e during the period of PGW. Some scholars are of the view that the „Second Urbanization” in the Ganga valley was based primarily on the use and dispersal of iron.

On the basis of the evidences of the use of Iron the Iron Age in India can be divided into three sub-periods:-

1. First Sub-period (1300-1000 B.C) – negligible evidences of iron as in Pirak of Pakistan and Hallur of Karnataka.
2. Second Sub-period (1000-800 B.C) – the use of iron is in vogue as is evident from the excavations in the region of Ganga Plain.
3. Third Sub-period (800-500 B.C) – Most of the regions of India has iron implements.