HISTORY

Subject : History
(For under graduate student)

Paper No. : Paper-I

History of India

Topic No. & Title : Unit- 4

Indus Civilization
Topic- c
Chalcolithic Cultures of India

Lecture No. & Title : Lecture 2b

Chalcolithic Cultures of India
(Part-2)

Chalcolithic cultures of the Deccan, South India and

Eastern India:
Archaeologists suggest that the Malwa culture was
gradually seeping into parts of Deccan, with the main
concentration of the sites being in the river valleys of
Pravara Godavari, Bhima, and Tapti. There were certain
differences in pottery types, because here the pottery
had a finer fabric, and appear to have been baked at a
very high temperature. There were different shapes,
some being quite rare, like the spouted vessels and deep
bowls, which have not been found from central India.

Daimabad is an interesting site, because there are signs

of continuous occupation from a very early level, with
most of the layers being associated with copper. Period II
of Daimabad which is associated with late Harappan
occupation reveals a distinctive pottery, black on red
ware, and there is evidence of the advent of copper. The
third phase at Daimabad is represented by Daimabad
culture, and here, there was evidence that copper was
locally smelted. There was a flourishing blade tool
industry, bead industry, and bone tool industry. The third
phase is the Malwa culture phase, and extensive
structural remains have been revealed. There were
rectangular spacious houses with plastered floors, mud
walls, hearths and wooden posts to support the roof.
There were different kinds of beads, bone tools, and
microlithic implements.
About sixteen graves have been found here, revealing
that there were pit and urn burials. The staple crop
appears to be barley. Evidence of three varieties of
wheat, pulses and lentils, has also been found.

Inamgaon in the Ghod (a tributary of Bhima) valley is a

well documented site. Period-I is associated with the
Malwa culture. There are extensive structural remains.
The houses were mostly of wattle and daub, with
plastered floors, and thatched conical roofs, with the
remains of hearths in them.

The staple crop of this region was barley. Wheat could

not prosper because of scarcity of rains. Some storage
chambers dug underground have been discovered.
Among other finds are wicker work baskets which were
possibly used to store crops, grain or food. Of the other
aspects of material culture, copper technology seems to
have been very well developed, and the stone tool
industry was also flourishing. There were beads fashioned
from carnelian and jasper which were available locally.
But the people of Inamgaon actually travelled a distance
of two hundred kilometres, to reach the sea, in order to
get sea shells. Among other cultural items, were
terracotta figurines mostly of the mother Goddess and
bulls.

The Jorwe culture, which emerged in the Godavari

Pravara basin in the Deccan, is unique. It also extended
to the Tapti basin in the north, and to the Krishna valley
in the south. Three of the more important and large sites
of this culture, were Inamgaon, Daimabad and Prakash.
These sites signified permanent village settlements of a
very substantial economy. All three of them were more
than twenty hectares in size.

Walki in the Bhima valley, is a recently discovered site,

and archaeologists are of the opinion that it had constant
cultural contact with major sites like Inamgaon, which is
about twenty-seven kilometres away. All the Jorwe
culture sites were abandoned by 1000 BCE.

At Daimabad there was a Malwa culture phase, followed

by the Jorwe culture. The structural remains show some
kind of continuity, although it is interesting to note that
the size increases in this phase from twenty hectares, to
almost thirty hectares. There are some structural
complexes, which have been identified by the kind of use
that they were put to. It has been possible to identify a
particular complex as the butcher’s house, and another
as that of a potter, and a third as the bead maker’s
house.

Excavated materials throw light not only on craft

specialisation in the region, but possibly on the social
structure of this very complex village which was
developing into a complex society, and substantial
economic unit. The mud rampart on stone foundations
also attracts the attention of scholars. Another structure,
apsidal in shape, is interesting as it has been identified as
a temple, as there is a pit containing ash, at the centre of
it.

The characteristic pottery here is Jorwe pottery. It is

black painted red ware, with beautiful paintings on them.
An interesting addition to this culture in the nature of
food, with evidence of the introduction of a new crop,-
millet. In general the animal domestication pattern and
other aspects of the culture are similar. The nature of
economy appears to have been a flourishing one.

The Jorwe culture in Inamgaon has an early time bracket

from about 1400 BCE to about 1000 BCE. There are
extensive structural remains at this site. The houses are
more or less similar with the earlier Malwa phase, but
appear to be more spacious, and are laid out in rows.
There were spaces between them. A striking feature is
that the houses have fire-pits, which were sheltered from
the wind, with high clay walls. At the bottom there is a
large stone slab covered with mud, which probably
supported the cooking part. There is a multi-room
complex which had about five rooms. The burial pattern
is strange. There is an extraordinary burial of an adult
male, who has been placed in an anthropomorphic jar, in
a crouching position, which signified the womb in
primitive societies.

In the Jorwe phase at Daimabad, urn burials are

observed, although there are some extended pit burials
too. It seems therefore, that the Jorwe phase burial
pattern at Daimabad, and Inamgaon, have certain
distinctive features between them. Although the cultures
belong to the same complex, they probably had certain
internal differences.

The features and elements of the domestic structures at

Inamgaon are carefully thought out, which are amply
illustrated by the manner in which pits were dug in the
ground of the houses to store grain, the floors of the
houses being made of rammed clay with alternate layers
of silt and fine sand, as well as clear indications of an
element of planning at the entire site. There are
indications of nicely made courtyards which appear to
have been used to stockade animals, revealed by the
high nitrogen content of the soil in these spaces. The
separate dwelling houses of craft specialists and the
formulated space use prove that they had evolved to that
phase of cultural activity, where they could organize a
planned habitation.
This appears to have been a very prosperous phase, so
far as farming and cattle breeding were concerned.
Irrigation too appears to have been practiced. There is
also evidence of winter crops like barley, peas and lentil.
Sometime in period III there appears to have been a
change in the subsistence pattern, proved by the
production of hardier crops like horse-gram, and a
greater reliance on hunting and food gathering, which
constitutes a strange phenomenon for this region.

Copper is scarce here compared to other sites, and

phases. Copper was probably brought in from Rajasthan,
although local copper was available. There is evidence of
some copper slag, which proves that there existed some
kind of smelting and manufacturing activity at the site.
One dwelling has been identified as a copper smith’s
house. This site reveals the use and manufacture of gold.
Some gold artefacts and a number of semi-precious
stone beads have been found. Pottery kilns are to be
seen, along with what appears to be a potter’s house.
They were also manufacturing terracotta figurines. They
appeared to be resourcing different kinds of raw
materials from different places.
There is evidence from the Jorwe phase at Inamgaon,
that its inhabitants travelled beyond their local
boundaries, probably, to the Gujarat shores to collect
shells, and that they sourced gold and ivory from
Karnataka. This culture seems to be dissipating around
1000BCE. The image we get from this site is one of a
growing, energy-filled, cultural activity.

M.K. Dhavalikar has made an interesting observation

about this culture stating that there was a stratified
society, particularly in Inamgaon. He has argued that it
was some kind of a chieftain level organization. He was
referring to a hierarchy of settlements in Inamgaon and
its satellite settlements. He has not fleshed out the
relationship between these sites. He alluded to the
irrigation projects, storage systems and the high status
burials that were unearthed in Inamgaon to substantiate
his argument.

It is quite evident that there was a hierarchy among the

different sites, as well as among the society living within
the sites. This may be illustrated by the remains of
structures at both Daimabad and Inamgaon, which reveal
that there were certain bigger complexes for habitation of
prominent persons.

M.K. Dhavalikar has pointed to the tendency (first talked

about by Vita Frinzie in the context of the world) of the
people of any pre-historic culture to go out. There is
always some peripheral activity within a given orbit.
Dhavalikar used this idea to understand the activities at
Inamgaon. The people at Inamgaon went up to a
distance of ten to twenty-seven kilometres, to collect
their raw material or merely to contact people from other
cultures. This is also evident from Daimabad, where we
find a semi-Harappan layer which precedes the Malwa
phase. Probably there was a coming in, or some kind of
contact with the Harappans. Developments at these sites
may be attributed to certain cultural contacts, as well as
the growth of economy from within.

South Indian Chalcolithic assemblages have been found

from various regions, namely Sanganakallu, Maski,
Brahmagiri, Piklihal and other regions. Settlements have
been found on granite hill tops and also on terraced hill
sides and plateaus. The assemblage mainly consists of
shells and stone blades as well as bronze and copper
artefacts.

In the subsequent period we find copper chisels and

arrow heads, pointing to increased amounts of copper
being used in these regions. It was the hardier kinds of
crops like horse gram and barley that were cultivated.
Cultivation was mostly on terraced hill-slopes.
Domesticated animals are well in evidence, because the
bones have cut marks. Most of these sites fall between
2100 to 1500 BCE. During the period stretching from
1500 to 1050 BCE we find a new kind of buff and grey
ware, and another kind of wheel made un-burnished
ware with purple design

There is a rich and diverse Chalcolithic complex available

from the eastern part of India, especially from eastern
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal. The two
significant sites of Khairadih and Narhan have been found
in Uttar Pradesh. Narhan is a distinguished culture which
has its own pottery.

There were already Neolithic sites like Senuar, Taradih,

and Chirand in Bihar, and it was in these sites that we
find that at a later phase, an efflorescence of Chalcolithic
culture, indicating development at these sites. But at the
same time evolution of new sites which begin their life
with the Chalcolithic phase itself are evident from
Champa and Oriup, in the middle Ganga basin which was
about to witness further Cultural Revolution.

It has not been possible to distinguish a clear Chalcolithic

layer in Orissa. The site of Golbai Sasan, on the banks of
the Mandakini, reveal red and black ware, as well as dull
red ware, burnished red ware, black ware and chocolate
ware. There is also an array of copper items from this
site as well as evidence of a flourishing stone tool
industry.

Most of the Chalcolithic sites emerged in Bengal in the

valleys of Ajay, Khargeshwari, and Damodar. These sites
have been discovered by Pareshchandra Dasgupta who
carried out extensive explorations in this region. Some of
the most prominent sites are, Baneshwardanga,
Bharatpur, Mangalkot, Mahisadalal and Pandurajar Dhibi.
Downwards there are sites in Tamluk and Tulsipur in the
Midnapur region.

In Bengal we find a marked Chalcolithic phase but its

antecedents are not clear. In period II at Pandurajar
Dhibi, there is a distinctive white painted pottery which
has black and red designs on them. There was also a
plain buff coloured pottery and black and red ware kind
of pottery, somewhat different from that of other regions.

Among the other artefacts of this assemblage we find

bone tools, a limited amount of copper implements,
beads and terracotta objects. Amongst the other sites of
this region like Bharatpur in the Damodar valley, and
Mahisadal in the Kopai valley region, where the structural
remains consist of house floors rammed with terracotta
nodules. Lots of microliths and bone tools, beads of
steatite, and semi-precious stones, terracotta bangles
and a copper celt have been found at this site.

At Mangalkot we find that there was some use of copper.

Copper slag and fragments have been found. Some
amount of lithic assemblage, as well as beads of semi
precious stones, shell objects, and terracotta figurines
have been found. The pottery found here was distinctive
black and red ware with designs painted in white and
black pigments.

It is noteworthy that at many sites like Mangalkot, and

Pandurajar Dhibi, from Bengal and Golbai Sasan from
Orissa, we find that there is an overlap phase in the
Chalcolithic, as use of iron objects was in practice. So we
call this a Ferro-Chalcolithic phase

Outside the Harappan orbit, thus developed distinctive

local Chalcolithic cultures where metals were in use, in
spite of lithic tools being prevalent during that time.
Copper was being increasingly used.
The foundation for what was to happen in the Iron Age
was being laid in the Chalcolithic phase. If we compare
what was happening in the copper bronze civilization in
the Harappan context, the other contexts fall far short of
it in terms of accumulation of wealth, or in terms of
organisation and distribution. As for the agricultural
pattern, each region was finding out its own points of
strength. Each region was cultivating its choicest crops
which could grow only in that particular ecosystem. And
they were also obtaining raw material as far as possible
from the nearby sources.