11.Chalcolithic Age

The Stone Copper Age is also called as chalcolithic age. Most of Chalcolithic culture was ruled. It is a culture centered on farming. It is a culture of the rural. Two types of Chalcolithic Culture exist.

The first culture is Harappan, and the second is non-Harappan. The Chalcolithic culture is centered on agriculture. A few were pre-Harappan. A few of them are modern-day Harappans. There are late Harappan among them.

Chalcolithic Age Pottery

Ahar

Ahar pottery is a black and red ware with linear and dotted designs painted on in white.

The Balathal pottery

There were numerous varieties of pottery made in Balathal. It featured buff, black-and-red, tan, and thin red pots. Additionally, there was reserve slipware, wherein the pots were first coated with a thin red wash and subsequently coated with a thick dark red slip, onto which designs were created using an instrument resembling a comb while the title was still wet.

Sites of the Kayatha culture have yielded three different kinds of pottery. Fine, robust, wheel-made pottery is the hallmark of Kayatha pottery. It usually has a thick brown slip from the lip to the shoulder, but occasionally it extends up to the base. Only the upper portion of the vessel—particularly the rim—is painted with linear designs in violet or deep red. Large storage jars, globular-profiled vases with concave necks, and basins and bowls are among the shapes.

Additional ceramic types connected to Kayatha ware comprised a buff featuring a delicate, fine fabric and red-painted geometric and linear patterns. The shapes are restricted to lotas, high and short concave-necked jars, and basins from the Protohistoric era. Thirdly, there is a red, finely woven comb ware that is typically washable and slip-free. It is embellished with numerous zigzag and wavy lines using an instrument that resembles a comb. The forms are primarily bowls and basins.

Malwa : A design that can be seen in black or red.

Prabhas & Rangpur Culture :- Both of them are derived from the Harappa culture. The
polished red ware is the hallmark of this culture.

Features of Chalcolithic Age

In terms of technology, it is pre-Harappan. However, some of these cultures existed before the Harappan culture, and some of them persisted after it. For the most part, they were ruling communities. In the semi-arid regions of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, they flourished.

Economy

• The subsistence economy of the Chalcoliths farming and livestock raising.
• At Navdatoli, a variety of food grains are found.
• Crop rotation technique from Maharastra’s Inamgaon.
• We will also be getting irrigation systems.
• People grow lentils, wheat, barley, and various pulses.
• Additionally, there is proof that Ard was fashioned from cattle soldier bones.
• In the Maharastra region, we are receiving Ard. It was applied in agriculture as well.
• Evidence of both wild and domesticated animals is emerging. There were fish bones from several species discovered.

Agriculture and Animals

1. The Chalcolithic Age people relied on farming, fishing, and hunting for their sustenance.
2. One of the primary jobs was hunting.
3. Sheep, buffalo, goats, cattle, and pigs were among the animals raised and slaughtered for food.
4. There are also camel remains discovered. Although there were no signs of pork consumption, people consumed beef.
5. The Navdatoli people grew linseed and ber.
6. Black cotton soil was used to grow cotton.

Tools and Weapons of Chalcolithic Age

Tools such as knives, axes, fishing hooks, chisels, pins, and rods were made from metals like copper and its alloys. Sharp-edged tools are on the way. We’ll be receiving copper bracelets.
We are receiving a variety of ornaments. It’s composed of ivory and gold. There are lots of ceramic items. We are receiving a clay figure of a woman. Most likely, we refer to it as Mother Goddess. The mother goddess was revered by them. However, there are no male characters.
One of the characteristics was probably animal worship as well. Additionally, evidence of burial customs is emerging. It also implies an afterlife. The skeleton of a man sitting is from the Jordanese.

Houses

• Although the Chalcolithic people of Harappa used bricks extensively, there are no remnants of burned or baked bricks.
• The houses had straightforward architecture, with either a circular or rectangular layout.
• Mud was used to build house walls, which were then plastered with lime and cow dung.
• Some stone-built homes are being delivered to Ahar, Rajasthan. They used some sort of planning when they settled. A Few Proofs from Inamgaon.
• Most of the residences faced east or west.
• There were big oval fire pits in some of the houses.
• Differences in how they settled the same.

Burials

In addition to pots and copper objects, people interred their dead on the floors of their homes in a north-south direction.

Crafts and Art

1. The Chalcolithic culture was known for its wheel-made pottery, which was primarily colored red and orange.
2. Pottery was adorned with various shapes and painted in linear patterns, primarily using black pigment.
3. There were designs of birds, animals, vegetation, and flowers.

Limitations of Chalcolithic Age

1. There was agriculture, but not an abundance of it. It was farming for subsistence.
2. They lacked technological development.
3. Could not fully utilize the animals.
4. Absence of Urbanization
5. Copper was limited, and tools were pliant.

Some Examples of chalcolithic Age

• Ahar in Tambavati, Gilund, and Balathal is a prime example of Banas culture in Rajasthan.
• Ganeshwar culture: The Indian state of Rajasthan contains the village of Ganeshwar in the Neem Ka Thana district.
• Kayatha culture: The main attraction of this Rajasthani village near Chambal and its tributaries is the robust red slipped ware adorned with chocolate designs.
• Jorwe culture: Daimabad, Nashik, Chandigarh, Inamgaon, and Prakash.
• E. Uttar Pradesh: – Khairadih, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.
• Eastern India: Chirand in Bihar, Pandu Rajar Dhibi in Bengal.
• North-west: Baluchistan (Amar, Kotdigi), Sindh (pre-Harappan).
• H. South India: Chalcolithic and Neolithic Periods. In South India, it is challenging to distinguish between Chalcolithic and Neolithic cultures.
• Savalda Culture: The Dhule district of Maharashtra is home to the well-known sites.

Chalcolithic Age Sites

Important Chalcolithic Age sites in Rajasthan

1. Ahar : The Mewar rulers’ final resting place is situated outside of Udaipur in Ahar, which resembles a city of tombs.
2. Balathal : The district of Udaipur contains Balathal.
3. Gilund : The district of Rajsamand contains Gilund.
4. Jodhpura : Following excavations at Ganeshwar and Jodhpura, respectively, the Ganeshwar-Jodhpura Chalcolithic culture was first identified in the 1970s. But dating and periodization have become one of the biggest problems with studying culture over time.
5. Ganeshwar is situated close to the copper mines in Rajasthan’s Sikar-Jhunjhunu region, which is part of the Khetri copper belt. It embodies the culture of Jodhpura and Ganeshwar.

Important Chalcolithic Age sites in Gujarat

• Rangpur: Rangpur is in Surendra Nagar district. It is an ancient archaeological site in Surendranagar district near Vanala on the Saurashtra peninsula in Gujarat, western India.
• Prabhas Patan is in Gir Somnath district.
• Mehargarh:- Mehargarh is a neolithic and chalcolithic site.

Important Chalcolithic Age sites in Maharastra

• Daimabad, Jorwe, and Nevasa belong to Ahmadnagar district.
• Inamgaon:- Inamgaon is in Pune district.

Important Chalcolithic Age sites in Madhya Pradesh

1. Eran is in sagar district.
2. Kayatha is in Ujjain district.
3. Navdatoli is in khargone district.

Important Chalcolithic Age sites in Uttar Pradesh:

• Gorakhpur is home to Narhan, Imlidih, and Sohgaura. Nathan is located in the eastern Uttar Pradesh district of Gorakhpur, on the left bank of the Ghaghara River. The excavator has determined five distinct cultural phases.
• Prayagaraj is home to Koldihwa. In Uttar Pradesh, India, there is an archaeological site called Koldihwa. It is located close to the village of Devghat in the valleys of the Belan River. It is one of the few Neolithic sites in Uttar Pradesh, along with Mahagara. Both are located in Prayagraj district.
• In the district of Bulandshahar is Lal Qila.
• Balia district is home to Khairadih.
• The Sonbhadra district is home to Raja Karan ka Qila.
• The district of Sant Ravidas Nagar contains Bhadohi.

Important Chalcolithic Age sites in Bihar

1. Chirand is in Bihar. It is in the Saran district.
2. Senuar in Rohtas district

Important Chalcolithic Age sites in Bengal

Pandu Rajar Dhibi is an archaeological site in the Ausgram II block of the Sadar North subdivision of the Purba Bardhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located in the valley of the river Ajay. It was West Bengal’s first Chalcolithic site to be found.

Important Chalcolithic Age sites in Odisha

Golbai Sasan:- Golbai Sasan is in Oddisa state. It is Khurda district.

Important Chalcolithic Age sites in Jharkhand

Barudih is in the Khunti area

State-wise copper hoard sites

State	Number of sites
Haryana	5
Rajasthan	6
Uttar Pradesh	33
Bihar	19
West Bengal	6
Orissa	7
Madhya Pradesh	8
Karnataka	1

Chalcolithic Age tools

Types of tools found

1. Harpoons
2. Sword
3. Antenna Sword
4. Celts
5. Double Axe
6. Bar celts
7. A kind of axe
8. Anthropo morph
9. The sophisticated tools and pottery of the Chalcolithic people demonstrated their high technological aptitude.
10. They made use of pots colored ochre. Thus, OCP culture is another name for Neolithic culture.
11. According to most historians, OCP culture flourished between 2000 and 1500 BC.
12. They were therefore considered to be the Harappan’s junior contemporaries.
13. It’s also thought that OCP and Bronze People exchanged some concessions.
14. The upper part of the Doab region is home to the majority of OCP culture sites. As a result, historians disagree on the existence of trade and interaction between OCP and Harappan cultures.

---

Pre & Mains : Buy History NCERT 11^th class by R.S.Sharma for UPSC

History Optional : Buy A History of Ancient And Early Medieval India : From the Stone Age to the 12th Century By Upinder Singh

---

---

Featured image credit :- World History Encyclopedia