Indian Chalcolithic Age

Geographical Distribution:

Chalcolithic cultures are distributed all over India but they are concentrated in:

  • The plateau region of Baluchistan in Pakistan;
  • The flood plains of Indus region in Pakistan;
  • The alluvial plains of mid-Gangetic region in Uttar Pradesh;
  • The dry zone of South-West Rajasthan;
  • The plateau zone of Western Madhya Pradesh;
  • The confluence areas of Narmada and Tapati in South- coastal Gujarat;
  • The semi-arid region traversed by the Godavari and Pravara in Western Maharashtra;
  • The plateau region along with the rivers Bhima and Tungabhadra in Karnataka and the river Krishna in Andhra Pradesh;
  • The Chirand in Saran District in Bihar, the Panduraj Dibi in Burdwan District of West Bengal, Mahanadi Valley in Orissa and the Brahmaputra Valley in the North-East.

Thus, the Chalcolithic people were concentrated in the Western region and Indus region in Pakistan, South-Eastern Rajasthan, Western Madhya Pradesh, South-coastal Gujarat, Western Uttar Pradesh, Western Maharashtra and the Southern and Eastern India.

Environment:

The environment of the Chalcolithic folk shows uniformities and diversities.

  • The Western region is a plateau region with black soils in different Valleys in Baluchistan in Pakistan.
  • In contrast with the Western region, the adjoining Indus region is a vast plains area with adequate water supply and thick forests.
  • The mid-Gangetic region in Uttar Pradesh is also a plain region with wooded areas – here and there . Lakes and river confluences provide plenty of water.
  • The South-East Rajasthan is an arid land with sparse vegetation.
  • The Western Madhya Pradesh is a plateau area traversed by rivers and streams. It contains black soils and well-forested areas.
  • The South-Coastal Gujarat is a hilly region cut by rivers that join the Arabian Sea.
  • The Western Maharashtra is a semi-arid region with black soils and with this vegetation including Chinese date (ber) and black acacia (bulbul). The whole area is traversed by Godavari and its tributaries.
  • In the South, the environment of the Chalcolithic folk contains hilly land and thick forests criss-crossed by the river Krishna and its tributaries.
  • The Eastern and North-Eastern environment is a mountainous tract with red soils, thick forests and large number of water resources like rivers, lakes and streamlets.

Chronology:

The Chalcolithic culture of India produces the distinctly different features:

  • The West shows a spread over Baluchistan of a very distinct urban growth from around 2700-1600 B.C.
  • The rest of India shows variegated village structures along with copper, bronze and even iron from 2300-700B.C.
  • Chronologically speaking, the Chalcolithic settlements in the West of Baluchistan in Pakistan are the earliest and they are the urban centres. Later, some of the Chalcolithic populations moved to Amri, Kot-Diji and other places in Indus Valley in Pakistan, to Kalibangan in the Banas Valley Rajasthan, and to Banawali in Haryana and established and promoted the spread of farming communities. Of these fanning communities, some moved to the flood plains of the Indus, learnt bronze technology and succeeded in setting up the urban Civilization of Indus. So, these farming communities are pre-Indus and contributed to the emergence of Indus Civilization.
  • As these developments were taking place in the Indus Valley, some farming communities like the Ganeshwar in Rajasthan, Kayatha in Madhya Pradesh besides those in mid-Gangclic region were existing as rural communities. So, they were contemporary to Indus civilization.
  • On the other hand, Chalcolithic settlements like Ahar in Rajasthan, Nagda in the Chambal, Prakash and Behai on the Tapati, Nwadotoli on Narmada, Nasik and Nevasa in the Godavari Valley, Chirand in Bihar, Pandu Raja Dibi in West Bengal, those on the banks of Mahanadi in Orissa appear long after the emergence of Indus Civilization, So. They were junior to Indus Civilization.
  • The Chalcolithic settlements in South India existed independently of the Indus Civilization. In South India, the final phase of Neolithic culture came into contact with the Chalcolithic culture of North. The result is a Neolithic-Chalcolithic culture of mixed traits. For this reason, Sankalia calls the South Indian Chalcolithic as Neo-Chalcolithic of NeolithicChalcolithic. The South Indian Chalcolithic culture transformed into megalithic culture using iron.

Cultures in India

  • The Chalcolithic culture in India is not uniform. With the exception of a few places, everywhere it highlighted village cultures. For the sake of convenience, these village cultures can be grouped into six zones:
  • a) The Ahar culture spread over South-east Rajasthan and Saurashtra (examples of sites:Ahar, Ballathal and Gilund in Banas Valley)
  • b) The Malwa cultural zone spread over Central India including Malwa and Chambal regions in West Madhya Pradesh;(examples of sites: Kayatha, Eran, Nagda and • Navdatoli in Malwa plateau Chambal Valley and Narmada Valley)
  • c) The mid-Gangetic cultural zone spread over Ganga-Jamuna Doab region in Uttar Pradesh (examples of sites: Kausambi and Alangirpur)
  • d) The Jorwe cultural zone spread over Western Maharashtra (examples of sites: Jorwe,Nevasa, Daimabad, Imamgoan and Chandoli)
  • e) The Eastern cultural zone spread across Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and some NorthWestern states (examples of sites: Chirand in Bihar, Panduraj Dibi in West Bengal,sites in Mahanadi Valley in Orissa and Brahmaputra Valley in North-Eastern States);
  • f) The Southern cultural zone spread over Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh (examples of sites: Brahmagiri, Piklihal and Maski)

Features of Chalcolithic in the six zones:

All these -Chalcolithic cultural zones have the following common features and variations:

  • The settlements in all the six zones were mostly small, but rarely medium-sized and large. A vast majority of tire settlements were small. However those at Ahar and Gilund were medium-sized. They were spread over an area of nearly 4 hectares. Daimabad was very large spreading over 40 hectares and containing around 4000 people. Imamgoan contained more than 100 houses. Further, some of the settlements like the Kayatha and Iran and Daimabad and Imamgoan were fortified.
  • The houses in all zones had their common styles and variations. In all zones mud-brick houses and thatched houses were common. At Ahar stone-built houses were common. At Gilund bumt-bricks were seldom used. In Jorwe sites, the chiefs1 houses were multi-roomed , spacious rectangular dwellings. They dominated others who lived in round huts. Houses of potters, smiths, ivory carvers, lime-makers, bead-makers and weavers were located in separate sites within the settlements of Imamgoan. A granary was attached to the chiefs house at Imamgoan.
  • The technology was a mix of metals and stones. The metal technology highlighted mastery over smelting of copper and manufacturing of copper tools, weapons and bangles. In all the six zones copper tools such as flat rectangular axes and bangles occur. However, in some places in all zones copper hoards consisting of arrowhead, fishhooks, celts, bangles and chisels in large numbers occur. Fragments of copper occur at Gilund. A bronze sheet occurs at Ahar. Chandoli yielded copper chisels. Ganeshwar situated close to Khetri copper mines supplied copper objects to Harappan people. Daimabad yielded a large number of bronze goods some of which were influenced by Harappan culture.
  • The .lithic technology highlighting the presence of microliths, stone blades and stone axes occur in all the zones. However, in Ahar zone, microliths and some stone tools occur at Ganeshwar and stone blades at Gilund. But stone tools were totally absent in other sites. It may be said that in Ahar cultural zone, a vast majority of the settlements did not use microliths and stone axes. In the western cultural zone, tiny celts and microliths occur. In all zones except Ahar cultural zone stone blade industry was wide spread.
  • The pottery in all the six zones belongs to one type namely the wheel made black-andred ware pottery. It highlighted inverted firing and decoration with streaks of white colour. However, in Western cultural zone, much of the pottery was occasionally painted with liner designs. In South cultural zone, pottery basically remains black in colour with very little decoration. In Jorwe cultural zone, the pottery was distinct in shape, fabric and decoration. -Jorwe, Malwa and Eastern cultural zones produced channel-spouted pots, dishes-on-stand and bowls- on-stand.
  • The economy of the Chalcolithic centred round food-production. People in all the zones domesticated cows, sheep, goats, pigs and buffaloes and slaughtered them for food but not milked them for drink and dairy products. In Ahar cultural zone, remains of a camel were also found. At Ganeshwar people depended more on hunting than cultivation. In mid-Gangetic zone, fishing and hunting were secondary means of livelihood . Fish hooks occur in large numbers in Eastern cultural zone
  • Slash-and-burn cultivation employing digging stick with perforated stone discs as weights, was common to all the six zones. The inhabitants of Ahar, Malwa, and Jorwe cultural zones raised cotton, barley, wheat and lentils. On the other hand, those in the mid-Gangetic zone produced barley and wheat. In Eastern cultural zone, the chalcolithic folk produced rice. In South India, people had peripheral cultivation of finger millet (ragi), pearl millet (bajra) and other millets besides cotton. The people of Navdatoli in Jorwe cultural zone produced Chinese date (ber) and linseed.
  • Several crafts like smithy, pottery, weaving, terracotta-making, bangle-making. Brickmaking, lime-making, and ivory-carving in different cultural zones provided livelihood to the people.
  • Social classes reveal social-economic inequalities in Chalcolithic society. In Ahar, Malwa, Jorwe, Eastern and Southern zones, the dominance of larger settlements, over smaller settlements the dominance of large rectangular houses of the chiefs over round huts of the commoners and the social distance between the chiefs and commoners have expressed socio-economic inequalities. Further, the burial practices also revealed socio-economic differences. In Jorwe cultural zone, children of the rich are buried with copper-based necklaces around their necks. In Malwa zone, one house in Kayatha contained burial goods which included 29 copper bangles and two unique axes. But in another house in Kayatha the grave goods consisted necklaces of semi-precious stones such as steatite and carnelian beads placed in pots.
  • Religious life in all the six zones centred round he cults of Mother-Goddess and sacred bull and the beliefs and practices concerned with after-life. Terra-cotta figures of women suggest that people venerated the Mother-Goddess Stylised bull Terracotta show that the bull was the symbol of a religious cult. In Ahar and Malwa zones, there were extended burial practices. In Jorwe cultural zone, people buried their dead in urns under the floor of the house in the north-to-South position. In Eastern zone, fractional burials prevailed. In South zone, people buried their dead in east-west position under the floor of the dwelling. Sometimes they created huge urns to bury their dead. In every cultural zone people deposited pots and some copper objects in the grave for the use of the dead in the next world.
  • Arts and crafts of the Chalcolithic people are of great skill and quality. In every zone people wore bangles made of copper and bead necklaces made of camelian, steatite and quartz crystal. Dress included hand-woven clothes. Terracotta toys occur in large numbers. In the South zone sometimes people executed art on the rocks outside their dwellings. These are in the form of punched dots and depict human figures as well as horse driven carts.
  • The special features of the Chalcolithic culture in India is copper hoarding phase and ochre-coloured-pottery of the 40 hoards unearthed, rarely half were concentrated, in mid-Gangetic zone. The largest copper hoard comes from Gangetic in Malwa zone, after experiencing these two phases; Chalcolithic settlements acquired black-and-red ware pottery.

Limitations:

The limitations of Indian Chalcolithic society are as follows:

  • a) The Chalcolithic follows domesticated livestock for slaughtering them for food but not for milking them for drink and dairy products. Thus they could not make full use of the domesticated animals.
  • b) The people living in black clayey soils in the Ahar, Malwa and Jorwe zones and in red soil areas of Eastern zones faced the difficulty of employing digging stick for breaking the soils.
  • c) The social and economic patterns of life did not promote longevity of a large number of children in Jorwe zone.
  • d) The Chalcolithic people did not know much about the art of mixing tin with copper and thus forging the much stronger and useful metal called bronze.

The Chalcolithic people did not derive any substantial benefit from the advanced technological knowledge of the Indus civilization.

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