- Introduction
- Chalcolithic Period (Stone Copper Age) 3000 BCE – 500 BCE
- Important Chalcolithic Cultures
- Ahar Culture
- Kayatha Culture
- Malwa Culture
- Jorwe Culture
- Ocre Colored Pottery (OCP) Culture
- Painted Grey Ware (PGW) Culture
- Characteristics
- Features
- Art and Crafts
- Painting
- Housing
- Significance
- Limitation
- Conclusion
Introduction
- After independence, there was growing interest among scholars in the systematic study of social organisations and political and economic institutions, notably influenced by scholars like D.D. Kosambi.
- This interest also extended to archaeological work, with scholars like H.D. Sankalia spearheading efforts to reconstruct past ways of life in different regions.
- Detailed exploration of Chalcolithic sites began, particularly in central and western India, with excavations at selected sites.
- Multi-disciplinary studies at sites like Inamgaon in Maharashtra provided significant insights into past subsistence, religious practices, and social organisation.
- Chalcolithic culture was defined by certain salient features such as ceramics, copper artifacts, beads of semi-precious stones, stone tools, and terracotta figurines.
- The origin of these cultures was often attributed to migration and diffusion of population groups, with some believing Aryan peoples as the bearers of these cultures.
- Archaeological sites were often linked to names of places from the Puranas and epics, thought to be located in the same geographical region.
- Recent critiques have questioned defining a culture based solely on pottery types and explaining changes through diffusion and migration factors (Panja, 2002).
- The Ochre Coloured Pottery (OCP) Chalcolithic Cultures, found at over 100 sites in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh, presents a complex problem.
- There are divided opinions about the authorship of OCP cultures, and dates assigned range from 2800 BC to 900 BC.
- The PGW phase with deluxe ware of the same name has raised several queries regarding its status.
- The Chalcolithic period, also called the Eneolithic or Aeneolithic, is now considered part of the Neolithic period.
- During this time, humans began using both metal and stone weapons, with copper being the first metal used.
- The Chalcolithic period is referred to as the Bronze Age in many parts of the world.
Chalcolithic Period (Stone Copper Age) 3000 BCE – 500 BCE
- The term Chalcolithic is a combination of two words: Chalco+Lithic, which was derived from the Greek words "khalkos" + "lthos," which means "copper" and "stone," respectively, or the Copper Age.
- After the Neolithic Age, several cultures began to use metal, primarily copper and low-grade bronze.
- Chalcolithic, which means "stone-copper Phase," was the name given to a culture based on the use of copper and stone.
- It lasted from around 2000 BC to 700 BC in India. This culture was most visible during the Pre-Harappan period, but it was also present in many places during the Post-Harappan period.
- The majority of the people lived in rural areas near hills and rivers.
- The Chalcolithic culture is associated with farming communities such as Kayatha, Ahar or Banas, Malwa, and Jorwe.
- The people of the chalcolithic period used various types of pottery, one of which is known as black-and-red pottery and appears to have been widely used from around 2000 B.C. onward.
- It was thrown on a wheel and painted with white linear designs on occasion.
Important Chalcolithic Cultures
Ahar Culture
The Ahar culture, also known as the Banas culture, is one of the earliest Chalcolithic cultures of India.
The term "Banas culture" is derived from the name of the valley where most of the sites are located.
The culture is named after the type site Ahar, in District Udaipur, Rajasthan, excavated in 1961-62 by H.D. Sankalia of Deccan College, Pune.
The Ahar culture sites are found in southeastern Rajasthan, known as Mewar, in the eastern plain and southeastern plateau regions.
This region is rich in mineral deposits and is believed to have supplied copper to Harappan sites.
More than sixty sites of the Ahar culture have been discovered, with extensively excavated sites at Ahar and Balathal.
Other excavated sites include Gilund, Bagor, and Ojiyana, while Marmi and Tarawat have undergone section scraping to determine the culture sequence and chronology.
Excavations at Ahar revealed a two-fold sequence of cultures: the Chalcolithic phase (Period I) and the early Historic phase (Period II).
Radio-carbon dates place the Chalcolithic phase at Ahar between 2025 BC and 1270 BC.
Balathal, located on the Kataranadi riverbank in Udaipur district, is one of the most extensively researched sites of the Ahar culture.
Excavations at Balathal from 1994-2000 were conducted by Deccan College, Pune, in collaboration with Rajasthan University.
Radio-carbon dates place the Chalcolithic culture at Balathal between the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC and 1500 BC.
The material culture at Balathal has been studied in detail, leading to the division of the Ahar culture into four phases: Early Ahar/Balathal phase, Transitional phase, Mature Ahar phase, and Late Ahar phase.
The Early Ahar phase is identified only at Balathal, characterized by mud and mud brick houses with hearths and eight types of wares.
The inverted firing technique was used for black and red ware and reserved slip ware.
Beads of steatite and terracotta and a few stone implements were found.
Faunal and floral remains indicate a mixed economy during this phase, placed at the end of the 4th millennium BC.
The Transitional phase saw the emergence of the Mature Aharian culture in the upper layers of the site.
The Mature Ahar phase marked the development of large settlements, key sites, and satellite sites with a uniform settlement pattern.
Fortified enclosures were found at some sites, like Balathal, and houses were made of stone, mud, and mud brick.
Industrial activities included mass production of ceramics, metal works, and bead industries, with beads made from shell, bone, ivory, semi-precious stones, steatite, and terracotta.
The invention of the fast wheel marked a refinement in ceramic technology, with techniques like slipping, polishing, and burnishing.
Diagnostic wares of the period included black and red wares and red and grey wares.
Several copper ore quarrying sites within a 32 km radius of Ahar suggest the region as the source of copper for the Harappans.
Evidence of rice at Ahar was found in the form of impressions on potsherds.
Other crops included wheat, barley, millet-bajra, and jowar.
Faunal remains suggest domesticated species like cattle, buffalo, goat, sheep, pig, dog, and fowl, and wild animals like sambhar, nilgai, chital, blackbuck, and wild boar.
The economy was mixed, with cultivation and hunting-gathering.
The social organisation likely included specialised craftsmen, but it is unclear whether it was a chiefdom society.
The fortification at Balathal may indicate internecine conflicts.
The bull figurines from the late phase have been ascribed with ideological significance.
The climatic conditions at the end of the second millennium BC led to the decline of the farming culture in southeastern Rajasthan.
The Late Ahar phase shows features of this decline.
There is debate over the authorship of the culture, with Sankalia suggesting a West Asian link, which was later disputed.
Recent research highlights the affinity between the Ahar culture and Chalcolithic cultures in Gujarat.