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Neolithic and Chalcolithic Cultures
Other Th an in the N orth-W est
The evolution of an urban culture in the north-west did not envelop or
sweep away all othe r pre -ur ba n societies. Th ose in the vicinity were inco rpo r-
ated into the H ar ap pa n system . Th ere were sti ll , ho we ver, large num be rs of
hunter-gatherers, pastoralists and farmers whose l ives were ei ther
untouched or only marginally affected by the changes in north-western
India. The potential for change now lay with the chalcoli thic cultures,
using artefacts of stone and metal - primarily copper, unti l the early first
mil lennium when i ron was int ro duce d.
Chalcoli thic societies of the s ec on d- firs t millennium
C
emerged in many
parts of the subcontinent, sometimes incorporating an earl ier neoli thic
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A N T E C E D E N T S
society. Th e si tes of Bu rzahom and G ufk ral Kashm ir), dat ing to the t h ir d -
second millennium
BC
, feature pit dwellings cut into the loess soil of the
plateau. Evidence of some carnelian beads, and the depiction of a horned
anim al on po ttery , have bo th been tak en as links w ith the Indus civilization.
Th is need no t imply a direct co nne ction , since the artefa cts could ha ve com e
through a chain of exchanges. A stone engraving depicts a hunting scene.
Stone implements for harvest ing grain and approximating a s ickle-shape
are thought to have similarities with such harvesters from central Asia, but
connections beyond this have not been established. Burials within the hut,
sometimes together with an animal - such as a dog - occur both at these
sites and elsewhere in India. Burzahom also has large upright stones or
menhirs. Sites with some similarities are located in the hills of Almora
Uttaranchal) . The more northern set t lements of the Gandhara Grave cul-
ture in the Swat Valley were familiar with the horse by the late second
millennium BC, an d s ho w evidence of the use of iron we ap on s in the early
first millennium. The Swat Valley was one of the routes linking north-west
India to Afgha nis tan and cen tral Asia.
One tends to look at the Ganges Plain for a larger spread of settlements,
since this was to be the location of the second urbanization. There is a
different sequence of cultures between the western and the eastern parts of
the plain. The earliest culture in the western plain is that of the Ochre
Co lour Pottery O C P ) also fou nd in the wa tershed, and this has been
excavated at s i tes such as Atranjikhera, Lai Qila and Hulas . This pottery
was ear l ier l inked to poor quali ty Harappan ware, but the l ink remains
ten uo us despite som e evidence of Late H ar ap p an rem ains in the early levels
at Hu las . At some s i tes in H ary an a and Pu nja b there is an overlap between
Late Harappan pottery and that of the people of the subsequent Painted
Grey W are P G W ). Th is w ould suggest an introdu ction of the Painted Grey
Ware somewhat ear l ier than the f irs t mil lennium. The later phase of the
Painted Grey Ware is associated with the use of iron. Perhaps the most
significant aspect of this evidence is th at i t reveals a m inim al con tinuity fro m
Harappan ideas in this area, al though the cultures of the western Ganges
Plain show l it tle s imilar ity with H ar ap pa n a r tefacts . Th e notion of u rba n
centres , however , remained unfamil iar to these cultures s ince the precon-
dit ions we re ab sent .
Yet there seems to be a fur ther connection eas twards as well . Copper
objec ts w ith an impressive technical proficiency - spea rhea ds, h arp oo ns ,
cel ts , anten nae sw ords and wh at are thou ght to be an thro po m orp hic f igures
- have been fou nd buried as ho ard s in this area . Oc casionally they occur in
a stratif ied co ntex t, bu t m ore frequ ently in caches in fields. A link has been
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E A R L Y I N D I A
suggested with s imilar objects found in Chhotanagpur and fur ther eas t ,
dat ing to the second m il lennium .
The Painted Grey Ware culture, of which some sites were located in the
Hakra P la in in a pos t -Harappan context , was predominant in the wes tern
Gan ges Plain in the first m illennium
BC
, spreading fr om the Indo-G angetic
watershed to the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna. Metal technology
in this culture includes the early use of iron , w hich w as m ore fully developed
prior to and during the urbanization in the Ganges Plain, generally dated to
the mid-millennium. Characteristic of many iron age cultures, the earlier
use for iron was in wea pon ry but this gradually extende d t o othe r objects ,
par t icular ly household ones . As agricultural communit ies they cult ivated
wheat and bar ley, al though some r ice was found and the domesticat ion
of cattle is attested. That cattle provided food other than milk products
is evident from the proximity of cattle bones near domestic hearths,
bearing m ark s of having been cut tha t indicate their f lesh w as eaten. Im po r-
tan t set tlements of the P G W include R opa r Punjab ) , Bh agw anpura Ha ry-
ana) and Atranj ikhera , H as t inap ur , Ahicchat ra , and Jakhera Ut tar
Pradesh).
Some sites of the second millennium in the middle Ganges Plain emerge
more definitively in the first millennium - such as Piprahwa and Ganwaria
associated s t i l l la ter with Buddhism), Sohgaura, Narhan and Khairadih.
The cluster of sites south of the Mirzapur area could be explained by
their access to the Son Valley and the route going southwards. Settlements
in the Belan Valley, south of Allahabad, have yielded rice grains and it
was claimed that the domestication of rice went back to the sixth
millennium
BC
. H ow eve r, this has been questione d a nd a later date is
preferred. Domestication of plants and animals is evident at Koldihva and
Chopani-mando. Set t lements in the Ganges Plain go back to about the
th i rd-second mil lennium
BC
, some having begun as neolithic sites, such as
Chirand at the confluence of the Ganges and the Sarayu, which remained
im porta nt unti l the ear ly Chris t ian era. H uts of w att le-and -dau b contained
functional artefacts, including polished stone axes and microliths, bone
implements , pes t les and querns for gr inding grain, and terracotta animal
f igurines , among which the bull was common. The later phase included
copper artefacts, and stil l later there is evidence of some iron objects.
Chirand provides useful information on the evolut ion of cul tures in the
Ganges Plain.
The Northern Black Polished Ware, characteristic of the urban centres of
the Ganges Plain, which was also the area of its provenance, is thought to
have developed fro m high -tem per ature fir ing techniq ues used in smelting
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A N T E C E D E N T S
iron and from the use of local haematite soil . I ts extensive distribution as a
luxury w are helps the tracking of exchange an d trad e in var ious p ar ts of the
subcontinent .
Fu rthe r east in Bengal the chalcolithic sites seem to ha ve been co nce ntra ted
in the valleys to the w est of the Bh agirathi, particularly in the D am od ar an d
Ajay Valleys, perhaps because of access to the copper-producing areas in
Ch hotan agp ur . Some se t tlements, such as Pandu Ra jar Dh ib i , M ahisdal and
M an ga lk ot, beg an as neolithic sites bu t grad ually beg an to use m etal. Burials
occur in the habitation areas. Further to the east, the Assam neolithic
includes sites such as Daojali Hading and others in the Garo hills and the
Ca cha r area. Neoli thic set t lemen ts have also been foun d in Orissa at K uchai
and Go lbai Sasan, and in M an ip ur . Conne ctions with cultures in south-east
Asia and eastern Asia have been suggested, but await further investigation.
Similarities with neolithic cultures of these areas have been noticed in
arte fac ts such as axes and h arvesters, and in the stone used such as jadeite),
as well as in cord-im pressed po ttery .
There may have been a few indirect l inks between Harappan s i tes and
those in southern Rajas than, such as Ahar , Gilund and Balathal , where
H ar ap pa n beads have been fou nd . Th e proxim ity of cop per ore in the
Aravallis doubtless encouraged settlement and the links led to mining cop-
per . A wide dis tr ibution in G uja rat , R ajas tha n, the fr inges of the
doab
and
the middle Ganges Valley, extending to parts of Bengal, is recorded for a
pottery technique that resulted in double colours of black and red which
has been labelled the Black-and-Red Ware. This was not the pottery of a
single, un ifo rm cu lture, no r w as it the sole potte ry a t these sites, altho ug h it
of ten predominated. The ear l ies t dates for this pottery range, according to
region, from the second to the first millennium
BC.
Beads of carnelian and lapis lazuli som etimes occ ur at s ites of the M alw a
culture in Madhya Pradesh, again hint ing at l inks with the Late Harappan.
Both the major s i tes of Kayatha and Navdatol i , going back to an ear l ier
period, suggest a degree of complex living. Navdatoli faces Maheshwar
across the N ar m ad a, an d these could have been cross ing-points on the r iver.
Salvage archaeology in Madhya Pradesh pr ior to the complet ion of the
dam on the Narmada River has yielded evidence of sites with impressive
chacoli thic levels , such as Sabatpur , Peethanagar and Mandsaur . Some are
l inked to the M alw a culture and others app ear to have been on a route going
south through the Ho sha nga bad area , a route tha t comes in to prominence in
later times.
The curious and impress ive f ind of four bronze objects , thought to be
reminiscent of the Late Harappan s tyle, has surfaced at Daimabad in
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E A R L Y I N D I A
north ern M ah ara sht ra. A r ider dr iving a yoke of oxe n, and three animals -
a rhinoceros , a buffalo and an elephan t , each on wheels - are u nusual
sculptures for a chalcolithic site. I t could point to Harappan contacts
through Gujarat, if the identity of the style is accepted. Such contacts have
also been suggested for the chalcolithic site of Jorw e M ah ara sht ra) , w hich
was actively involved in the smelting of copper and the making of copper
artefa cts. Equally interesting is the chalcolithic site at Ina m gao n M ah ara sh-
tra), dating to the second millennium
BC
, wh ich w as extensively exc avate d.
It is thought to have been the hub of a chiefdom.
The people of Inamgaon practised both farming and livestock breeding,
with barley and millet as commonly grown crops, in a system of crop
rotation. Cultivation was not dependent on rainfall alone for there is evi-
dence of em ba nk m en ts to hold wa ter. Villages of rou nd o r square hu ts, built
of watt le and daub, were surrounded by a mud wall . The nature of this
barrier may not have kept attacks by other villagers at bay but could have
acted as a defence against animal predators, of which there were plenty in
the adjacent forests . The presence of predators is depicted in a scene on a
jar. Female terracotta figurines were found, some curiously headless but
w ith prom inent b reas ts , em phasizing r itual and symbolic aspects, and som e
placed in clay containers. By comparison, male images are fewer. The
disposal of the dead was largely in the form of burial, often in a pit in the
floor of the hut acco m pan ied by som e grave goo ds. Childre n w ere buried in
urns . W ha t is puzzling is th at in some cases of adult b urial the feet had been
deliberately cut
off
V idarbh a M aha rashtra ) has provided evidence of cairn
burials with Black-and-Red pottery, horse bits and copper and iron objects
at places such as Jun apa ni a nd M ah ur jha r i . These have l inks with some
megali thic burials fur th er sou th.
The r iver val leys of the Godavari , Krishna, Tungabhadra, Pennar and
Kaveri w ere settled by farm ing com m unities as early as the third m illennium
BC
. The Raichur
doab
between the Krishna and the Tungabhadra Rivers
becomes a focus of at ten t ion. H allur , Ku pgal , M aski K arnatak a) an d
N aga r jun ako nda Andhra Pradesh) had farming com mun i t ies . The semi-
arid area s were suitable for cattle-keeping villages, an d it is tho ug ht tha t th e
large ash m oun ds at Piklihal K arnatak a) , U tnur An dhra Pradesh) and
Kup gal resulted from burn ing catt le dun g. Budihal Andh ra Pradesh) was a
cat t le-keeping vi l lage where an abattoir was unearthed. Sheep and goats
w ere also bred , w ith the later add ition of buff alo . M illet wa s widely culti-
vated and rice was grown later, being confined to wet, low-lying areas.
Initially, these cultures were not metal-using and were limited to a range of
stone artefacts, some used for polishing and grinding and some for more
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A N T E C E D E N T S
refined w ork throu gh sharp-edged tools . H an d-tu rne d p ottery was gradually
replaced by the technical ly m ore advanced wh eel- throw n pottery .
Towards the end of the second millennium there is some limited evidence
of copper and bronze artefacts. This is developed further at Paiyampalli
Tamil Nadu) , an ear l ier neoli thic s i te , Hallur and T. Nars ipur , with a
bigger array of bronze and copper objects, beads, terracotta figurines and
wheel-thrown pottery. A similar development is noticed at s ites such as
Sangankallu in Karnataka. Some among them are places for megali thic
burials . Hallur and Kumaranhalli provide an early date for the use of iron,
the sites going back to the late second m illennium
BC.
The study of chalcolithic cultures suggests certain common character-
istics. The close connection between a settlement and the environment is
no w an established perspective in archaeolog y. The interplay of locality an d
region that underlines some of these settlements becomes an important
feature of later historical change. The imprint of early settlements did not
continue unch ange d, bu t nevertheless this interplay remains a consequen tial
feature.
Settlem ents occur in river valleys, alth ou gh sem i-arid a reas ma y have been
preferred for livestock breeding. Since stockbreeding and agriculture are
interdependent , the semi-ar id areas would have encouraged the cult ivat ion
of mil let , ap ar t f ro m the nor thern plain wh ere whe at and bar ley were m ore
co m m on , or in more eas tern areas wh ere r ice was grow n. I t has been argued
that areas given to the cultivation of wheat have different social patterns
from those primarily cultivating rice. The latter tend to be associated with
a more hierarchical authority and possibly greater stratif ication. This per-
spective has yet to be examined for the history of the subcontinent, but at
an impressionistic level there does seem to be a difference, for example,
between the north-west and the middle Ganges Plain in terms of social
pat terns . H ow ever , the difference need not have been caused by this one
factor .
The organization of a village, and subsequently a hierarchy of villages
within a cluster, required some form of authority and regulations of control.
This could have evolved from social stratif ication, with families coalescing
into clans which maintained a hierarchy or at least sustained the notion of
a semblance of authority by a chief or by elders. The political and social
s tructure wou ld have been far m ore com plex than tha t of bands. C hiefdom s
would presuppose not just surplus food but the control of a few families
over w ha t was prod uce d, dem arcat ing the chief f rom the clan. The handling
of what were thought of as luxury goods, such as beads and certain kinds
of symbolic daggers, would mark the status of such families. Their power
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E A R L Y I N D I A
would draw on their access to weapons, to maintaining s trat i f icat ion and
allotment of resources, and on claims exercised through ritual.
The worship of female figurines is in some ways remarkable. I t not
only parallels the Harappan figurines, but almost anticipates the extensive
worship of female cult figures and goddesses in later history. But this need
not point to the prevalence of a matr iarchal sys tem. Matr iarchies would
have been unlikely to approve of headless female figures, even as objects of
worship. But it does point to a greater social presence of the female than in
later times, which m ay also hav e been a generally m ore assertive presence.
Burial within the hu t is in som e ways strange, althou gh it occu rs in m any
regions. W as this a sign of the status of the family, w hich tre ated the burial
as a claim to that status? Or was it an attempt to keep those who had died
close to the fam ily, a sentimen t kn ow n t o some oth er societies, and suggested
here by the cutting off of the feet? O r w as there also a fear th at w ild anim als
w ould ravage the pit graves since the dead w ere no t buried in coffins?
Megalithic Burials
The style of burial changed dramatically in the first millennium. Burials
moved out of the habitation huts to be located in specially demarcated
sanctua ries. These are the m egalithic sites w ith a large variety of m egalithic
m arkers , and are mo st com m only located in the peninsula providing it with
a distinctive cultural phase. Some sites go back to about iooo
BC
or even a
little earlier. Whether the megaliths are characteristic of a distinctively
differe nt cultural p atte rn, or are a burial fash ion ado pte d in the first millen-
nium as part of chalcolithic activity, had been a controversial question. The
paucity of settlement sites that can be correlated with the burials makes the
assessment less definitive. Nevertheless, attempts were made to identify
them as a distinctive culture. I t was even argued that because they were
associated with the horse they migh t have been Indo-A ryan speak ers settling
in the peninsula. But such identities have found lit t le support. Nevertheless
the extent and range of megalithic burials are striking.
The forms and styles of megalithic burials are diverse and range from the
single standing stone to rock-cut chambers. Simple cairns or a heaping up
of s tones were found in Baluchis tan and Makran, in the Vindhyan region
and par ts of the peninsula. Oth er ind icators were the ma rking of a locat ion
with a single, extremely large, stone marker or menhir. Such markers have
led to the name
mega lithos
, the large stone. The dolmen consisted of a
number of large s tones placed in formation. Or there could be a capstone
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A N T E C E D E N T S
balan cing over up righ t stones, ma rkin g a pit . Pits ofte n have w ha t is referred
to as a cist burial. This was frequently a circle demarcated with stones,
enclosing a pit within which was constructed a cist , a rectangular box made
of stone slabs to contain bones and grave goods. Sometimes there is a
circular hole in one of the side slabs, referred to as a porthole. This would
suggest that the burial cha m ber w as used more than once. Th e mo re impress-
ive range and forms of these burials occur in the peninsula where they are
widely distributed. The cists occasionally contain pottery sarcophagi. Even
more elaborate are the rock-cut caves in the Western Ghats, such as those
in Kerala. The cutting of caves was difficult and required the softer laterite
rock. The heterogeneity in form would suggest that the megalithic burials
do no t con stitute a single cultu re, but settlements with cultura l ha bits ha ving
similarities in concepts even though they were not identical in form.
The megalithic burials of the peninsula south of the Narmada, at s ites
such as H al lur , P ik lihal , Brahmagir i , M aski Karnataka) , N ag ar ju nak on da
An dhra Pradesh) and A dichann allur Tamil N ad u) , have character is tic
forms similar to those of non-Indian megalithic cultures, but their origins
remain somewhat unclear. I t is feasible that they evolved from the earlier
neolithic and chalcolithic cultures of the peninsula w ith som e small intrusion
of forms from elsewhere. Brahmagiri has a habitation site with megalithic
objects. Parallels have also been drawn with practices among forest tr ibes,
many of which have
sarnas
, sanctuaries, where large upright stones are
erected to com m em orate people, a pract ice which continue s to the present .
Similar megalithic burials also occu r in Sri Lan ka a t ap pro xim ate ly th e sam e
date, which would suggest l inks with south India.
Grave furnishings w ere pr im ari ly Black-and-Red pottery and impress ive
iron artefacts, such as hoes and sickles, small weapons and horse trappings.
Were these ritual objects deliberately buried with the dead, or were they
objects of daily use th ou gh t to be help ful to the de ad in the after-life? Co uld
this have been a cult of ances tor w orsh ip if the bu rial s ites w ere the focu s of
rituals? Some of the graffiti on the po ttery resembles the signs of th e
H ara pp a scr ipt , w hich provides yet ano ther dim ension to identif icat ion. Th e
communit ies involved in these memorials appear to have depended on the
cultivation of millet and rice, with some regional variation, and to have
domesticated cattle, sheep and goats.
The categories of objects from megalithic burials are also often typologi-
cally similar, for instance artefacts of iron, and the question therefore
is whether blacksmiths originating in a particular location traversed the
peninsula, or whether there was an extensive network of exchange. The
blacksmith clear ly had an important function in the production of i ron
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E A R L Y I N D I A
artefacts and, judging by the quality of the objects, could well have been a
specialized cra fts m an . Th e presence of the horse w ou ld suggest an extensive
network, drawing in suppliers of horses f rom northern and western India.
This would endorse the idea that the control over the exchange would l ie
with heads of clans, who were most l ikely the ones buried under these stone
markers . There appears to have been a continuing connection between
burial and status.
The association of iron artefacts and the range of forms are striking.
These m ark ers are generally fou nd in the vicinity of fertile land , which m ay
have been irrigated from tanks specially built for storing water. This would
suggest co-operative effort on the part of the builders, an effort that would
have been required even for the setting up of the burial m on um en ts. Yet there
are few settlements linked archaeologically to the megalithic memorials . If
the area designated for burials was associated with both status and conti-
nuity it could well be at some distance from the settlement. The status is
further underlined by the fact that at some sites the top levels have early
R om an imperial coins , thus providing a term inal date of aro un d the turn of
the Christian era. The presence of a coin links the archaeological evidence
to the historical. It is also suggestive of the range of exchange networks in
w hich the local societies were involved.
Th is all-too-brief survey of the archaeolog ical evidence, prior to the textu al,
makes apparent the presence of multiple vibrant cultures in various parts of
the sub con tinen t, particula rly in the second an d early first millennia
C
The
nature of these cultures es tablishes that , whatever contemporary records
there may be of a textual kind in later periods, the archaeological data has
to be kept within historical vision. I t also contradicts the idea of scattered
primitive cultures th at w ere easily edged ou t to the periphe ry w hen a supe rior
culture came to establish itself . The history of the subsequent predominant
cultures is modulated by both the continuit ies and the dis junctures under-
lined by the excavated evidence. The location of what is sometimes called
the second u rban izat ion shif ts f ro m the Indus Plain to the Gang es Plain. Th e
process leading up to the formation of states and the emergence of towns
can be observed in some depth for the Ganges Plain, where there is l i terary
evidence marking the process. However, the more detailed li terary evidence
relates to the mature period of urbanism, and here the archaeological
evidence has to be teased out by the textual. One hopes there will be more
.excavation of sites in the G ange s Plain, particularly ho rizo nta l exc ava tions,
as this will provide the necessary evidence for observing the process of
change. The nature and the formal plan of the cities in the Ganges Plain
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A N T E C E D E N T S
differed substantially from those of the Indus civilization. This was partly
due to e nvironm ental differences , but also to the econom ic fun ctions of the
cities and their political roles.
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