SITES OF INDIAN CHALCOLITHIC CULTURE – Anthropology by K.V RAMESH

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)

Site-wise analysis of Ahar Cultural Zone:

The Ahar cultural zone (2,600 BC to 1,200 BC) had the following characteristics:

Habitations: In Ahar the habitational site spread over an area of about 4 hectares. – The settlements contained stone built houses even though mud brick houses were common. Some of the houses were characterised with wattle and daub and with local thatch. All these facts of differential social status, sedentary life and settled agriculture.
Technology: In Ahar cultural zone people did not use microlithic tools. As an exception microlithic tools occurred at one site Ganeshwar. Stone axes or blades did not occur in Ahar. However stones blades appeared at Ganeshwar and Gilund.
All sites yielded copper tools like rectangular axes, bangles, and several sheets of copper at Ahar. Ganeshwar yielded copper arrowheads, spearheads, fish hooks and chisels and Gilund provided fragments of copper at Gilund. A bronze sheet occurred at Ahar. People used digging stick for breaking the black clayey soil for raising the crops. Rich copper mines like Khetri and Sikrar Jimjihunu were close to Ganeshwar. Ganeshwar supplied copper objects to Harappans, but did not receive much from Harappa. People of Ganeshwar practised smelting and metallurgy.
The inhabitants of Ahar culture complex developed wheel turned black-and-red ware pottery with inverted firing and decoration with streaks of white colour. They used pots for cooking, eating, drinking and storing. They also used Terracotta spindles and bangles.
Economy: People were food-producers. They domesticated animals like cow, sheep, goats, pigs and buffaloes. People ate beef, but took pork to a lesser extent. Probably they domesticated animals for meat, not for milk drinking and dairy products. Excavated retrieved remains of camel. They cultivated cotton, barley, and wheat. However, their cultivation was bit on an extensive scale. They practiced several crafts like smithy, pottery, weaving, terracottamaking, bangle-making, brick-making, etc., were practised. Those in Ganeshwar depended on hunting also. They hunted stat and hind.
Social Classes: There were social classes revealing socio-economic inequalities. The chief maintained social distance from others and vice-versa. Different groups of people buried their dead in different sites.
Religion: The religious cults included those centering round Mother-Goddess and bull. Presence of terracotta figurines of women suggests that people worshipped the Mother-Goddess. There were different stylised bull terracottas showing that the Bull was a symbol of religion cult. There were extended burial practices and grave-goods reveal the belief in after life.
Arts: People wore copper bangles, and bed necklaces made of carnelian, steatite and quartz crystals. Dress includes garments made of cotton. Terracotta toys appeared in good numbers.

Site-wise analysis of Malwa Cultural Zone:

Habitations ; The Malwa culture maintained scattered habitations over wide areas in several sites like Kayatha and Navdaloli. The habitations! settlements were spread over nearby 7 hectares. Especially, the Eron was a fortified village. Similarly the
Kayatha looked like a semi-urban centre and it was fortified in full. Everywhere there were distinctions of social classes in terms of spacious-to-moderate and small buildings respectively.
Technology: The technology of Malwa culture was almost similar to that of Ahar culture. Large number of copper tools weapons and bangles existed everywhere. In one house in Kayatha 29 copper bangles and 2 unique axes were found. Necklaces of semiprecious stones such as steatite and carnelian beads were also found in Kayatha.
Economy: The people of Malwa culture domesticated cattle, sheep and goat for their meat. They cultivated barley, wheat, and lentils on a small scale, Digging stick with perforated stone discs as weights were used for the slash-and-burn cultivation.
People knew the art of spinning and weaving. Spindle whorls occurred in good numbers.
Social Classes. In ail sites excavated there were social classes. The chief maintained distance from others. In accordance with the rules of social stratification they buried their dead in separate burial sites in all the sites in Malwa area.
Religion: There was veneration of mother-goddess because terracotta figurines representing the Mother-Goddess were available everywhere. There were also Bull terracottas. Bull also had become a symbol of religious cult. Belief in afterlife was common as exemplified by almost complete extended burials.
Arts: As in Ahar zone in Rajasthan terracotta figurines, stone bead necklaces, copper bangles etc occurred in large numbers.

Site-wise analysis of Mid-Gangetic Cultural Zone:

Habitations: The settlements were small, and spread over a limited territory. They began with the advent of red-ochre coloured pottery. Mud structures were common to all settlements. At one site namely Alamgirpur stray baked brick fragments appeared. Settlements did not last for more than a century or , so. When the ochre coloured pottery disappeared around 1500 BC, new habitations manufacturing black-and-red ware had appeared around 1000 BC. Even then, the new settlements were small in size and did not last long because river inundations and water logging over extensive area had rendered the area unfit for human habitation.
Technology: Stone tools occurred in all sties. Everywhere copper hoards each consisting of rings, celts, hatchets, swords, harpoons, spearheads, and human-like figurines occurring. Everywhere ochre coloured pottery made its appearance. Blackand-red ware pottery occurred quiet late.
Economy: The people of mid-Gangetic culture were skilful cultivators. They cultivated wheat and barley. Fishing and hunting proved to be reliable secondary means of livelihood. At the same time many people in the villages were involved in fighting with members belonging to distant village communities.
Social Classes: Throughout the career of Indo-Gangetic culture, social classes played a key role in extensive and intensive farming. Material evidence reveals striking socio-economic inequalities. There was chiefly class besides ordinary class. The dominant position of a spacious house in the centre of Kausambi reveals the higher position of the chief. At the same time the other classes occupied separate areas within the village.
Religion: Several metal figurines besides terracotta figurines suggest veneration of Mother-Goddess. Toys like bull figurines indicate religious cults probably associated with the worship of sacred Bull. The burial practices including the extended burials deposition of grave goods and application of ochre like materials to stone slabs near the burials indicate the belief in afterlife.
Arts: People of mid-Gangetic region wore large number of copper bangles, rings, and even armlets. The terracotta figurines look better than those unearthed from Malwa and Ahar cultures. Also people in each family maintained a small chest for keeping ornaments and bead necklaces.

Site-wise analysis of Jorwe Cultural Zone:

Habitations: Some settlement were rural (Jorwc) and some urban (Daimabad and Imamgoan). Of all the sites zone, Jorwe the largest is Daimabad. It is about 20 hectares in extent. It contained around 4,000 people. It is fortified with a mud wall having stones, rubble bastions. Inamgoan shows more than 100 houses, settlement is fortified and surrounded by a moat. All other sites are only 5 hectares and even less in size.
The Settlement: Hierarchy of settlements exists, in which larger settlements dominated the smaller ones. In both large and small settlements the chief and his kinsmen lived in rectangular houses. In Inamgoan granary was attached to the chiefs house. The chiefs houses dominated the round huts in which the subjects of chief lived. Craftsmen like potters, smiths, ivory-carvers, lime-makers, bead-makers and weavers lived in separate quarters within the settlement of Inamgoan.
Technology: It included stone blade industry and a few stone axes. Copper tools occurred in good numbers. In Jorwe and Chandoli Hie copper tools included flat rectangular axes and chisels. In Daimabad, bronze goods occurred in large numbers, some of which were influenced by the Harappan culture. Black-and-red ware pottery made of wheel was common. It included channel-spouted pots, dishes on stand and bowls on stand.
Economy; The practitioners of Jorwe culture domesticated cows, sheep, and goats. They cultivated barley, wheat and lentils. Several crafts like smithy, pottery, weaving etc. were thriving very well in this area, products even in neighbouring cultural areas. Evidence shows the popularity of these.
Social Classes: Socio-economic inequalities were common to the whole cultural zone. The status distinctions .were symbolized in terms of better housing and larger areas of farming. In Daimabad these differences were visible from the very housing patterns of the styles of houses.
Religion: Terracotta figurines of women suggest people’s veneration of Mother Goddess. A figure of Mother-Goddess similar to that found in Western Asia was found in Inamgoan. Bull terracotta figurines highlight the presence of religious cults associated with the Bull. There was belief in afterlife also. People buried their dead in urns under the floor of the house in the north-to-South position. People deposited pots and some copper objects in the grave obviously from the use of the dead in the next world. In the graves at Chandoli and Nevosa some children were buried with copper based necklaces around their necks. In other places, buried places of children included grave goods consisting only of pots. In Inamgoan an adult was buried with pottery and some copper tools.
Arts: People wore cotton clothes. Threads made of cotton, flax, and silk occurred. People wore copper bangles, beads of semiprecious stones such as carnelian, steatite and quartz crystals.

Site-wise analysis of Eastern Chnlcolithic cultural Zone:

Habitations: Eastern culture is spread over Bihar, Orissa, and West Bengal. In Chirand and Panduraj Dibi the settlements were small in size and included round houses.
Technology: Stone blade industry flourished. Copper tools included flat, rectangular axes besides channelled, spouted pots, dishes on stand and bowls on stand. Wheel made black-and-red ware pottery was widely prevalent. It was occasionally painted with white linear designs
Economy: People of the Eastern culture zone domesticated animals like cows, sheep, and goat in good numbers. Everywhere people cultivated nice. Fishhooks occur in large number.
Social Classes: Social classes existed in Chirand and Panduraj Dibi. Spacious structures as well as narrow small structures indicated social inequality of the inhabitants. On the basis of class system people buried the dead in different cemeteries.
Religion: The religious life included Mother-Goddess worship in Chirand and worship of bull terracotta in Panduraj Dibi. Fractional burials were common throughout the Eastern region.
Arts: As in the other cultural zones in the Eastern zone , also there was impressive evidence about the arts and crafts practiced by the people. Terracotta figurines, copper bangles, and stone bead necklaces were characteristic of Eastern zone.

Site-wise analysis of Southern Chalcolithic cultural Zone:

Habitations: The Chalcolithic settlements in South India came into being when the final phase of Neolithic appeared. In fact the final phase of Neolithic culture came into contact with the Chalcolithic culture of the North. The result is a Chalcolithic culture of mixed traits. For this reason Sankalia calls the South Indian Chalcolithic as Neo-Chalcolithic or Neolithic-Chalcolithic. The South Indian Chalcolithic culture transformed itself into Megalithic culture using – iron. The habitations varied from smaller to larger ones. Piklihal was spread over 1 hectare. On the contrary, Brahmagiri occupied nearly 4 hectares of land. Habitations were constructed in open places, foothills, on granite hills or levelled mounds. There were wattle and daub houses with clay floors. Round huts outnumbered rectangular houses. The chiefs lived in large rectangular houses.
Technology: Stone blade industry flourished. Celts were common everywhere. In Brahmagiri and Piklihal copper objects were found in good numbers. More and more metal objects, especially copper tools were used, in addition to lithic tools. At Hallur, bronze tools and bronze swords were found in small quantities along with a good number of spouted vessels and perforated vessels. Three types of earthenware existed, namely: (a). Black-or-red-or-purple painted pottery. This is similar to that of pre-Harappan Amri and Kalibangan. (b). Coarse surfaced pottery resembling that obtained in Baluchistan; and (c). Introduction of wheel-made pottery similar to that of Jorwe in Maharashtra.
Economy: The economy of the Southern Chalcolithic witnessed pastoralism and cultivation of millets. Everywhere people domesticated sheep, goat, humped bulls and cows. People at Hallur domesticated the horse. People had peripheral cultivation of linger millets (ragi) and pearl millet (bajra) besides cotton.
Social Classes: In the Southern Chalcolithic, there were social classes. The dominance of larger rectangular houses of the chiefs over round huts of the commoners and the social distance of the chiefs and commoners were expressed in terms of socio-economic inequalities.
Religion: The people of Southern Chalcolithic had belief in afterlife. They buried the dead putting the bodies on the back and in the Fast-West direction. They buried the children within the house, after keeping the dead bodies in urns. Sometimes they made huge urns to keep the dead bodies inside them and buried. People deposited pots and some copper objects in the grave for the use of the dead in the next world.
Arts: In the South the Chalcolilhic people wore bangles of copper and bead necklaces made of Carnelian steatite and quartz crystal , Dress included hand woven cloth. Unlike the people in other culture complexes, those in the South excelled in arts on the rock. The art works were in the form of punched dots and depicted human figurines as well as horse-driven carts.

Summary;

The settlements were rural in character save a few like Kayatha which was semiurban, Inamgoan and urban-city. Eron and Inamgoan were fortified habitations. Everywhere there were different house types representing those of rich as well-to-do and those of others.
Everywhere except in some places in Ahar zone people used stone tools. In every zone people used copper tools. Bronze occurred in than and Daimabad. Black-and-red ware made on wheel was common to all zones. Largest copper hoards occurred in mid-Gangetic zone.
Economic life was primarily based on food production. Everywhere people raised animals and corps. Except in the East and Southern zones people cultivated barley and wheat .Those in the East cultivated rice and those in the South raised millet crops. In Ahar and Malwa regions people practiced numerous arts and crafts. Those in Ahar depended on hunting; those in mid-Gangetic region practised fishing and hunting and those in the South resorted to fishing.
Social classes were present everywhere. The very types of large, small and moderate houses, the presence of imposing houses of chiefs, the location of chiefs’ houses in the centre of settlement, and the presence of separate burial places for people living in different quarters revealed social distinctions and proclivities.
Religious life was closely linked with the beliefs and practices concerned with after life. The type of burials and the burial of certain goods for the use of the dead in the next world shows the belief of the people in after life.
Artistic life found expression in terms of expertise in terracotta figurines, stone beads, copper bangles, bald necklaces in all sites, showing of clothes and rock carvings or bruisings in the Southern zone.

Thus the chalcolithic in India interested in several innovations which occurred in “Neolithic also, hence it very the called Neo-chalcolithic