Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan c7.s17.t3: Cleavers (?)
Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan c7.s17.t3
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Cleavers (?)
c7.s17.t3.1
8 No. 1, KDL. Small cleaver-like piece on a nodule with a thick untrimmed butt. The junction of the two sloping surfaces forming the edge, while the sides are crudely chipped. Greenish chert. *In situ* lower gravel. 10-12-1960.
c7.s17.t3.2
8 No. 16, KDL. Small cleaver with a pointed flaked butt. Sides crudely flaked. Junction of the sloping surfaces—of which the upper may be natural—forms the edge. Rolled, *in situ* upper gravel. Nala 2. 10-12-1960.
c7.s17.t3.3
This small cleaver reminds us of a similar cleaver from the Gangapur Dam section found in 1957 at Nasik.⁷⁰ 5 No. 14, KDL. A burin-like tool on an irregular longish piece. The chisel-like edge has one side probably vertically flaked.
c7.s17.t3.4
⁷⁰ SANKALIA, H. D. The Godavari Palaeolithic Industry, p. Here Fig. 30, 5.
c7.s17.t3.5
20 No. 5, KDL. A fine core flake, the underside of which also seems to be worked. Glassy basalt. Upper gravel. Nala 2.
c7.s17.t3.6
11 No. 7, KDL. A burin-like tool on a thick nodule. The undersurface is naturally flat. The two sides on one end meet in a chisel-like broad edge. Mottled jasper. Middle Gravel. Nala 2. 10-12-1960.
c7.s17.t3.7
From the analysis of the tool collections from the different horizons as well as a description of the important types, it will be seen that the same tools which occur in the lowest layer of cemented gravel in both the Nalas occur in what we have called "mixed deposit" in Nala 1 and "middle and upper gravel" in Nala 2. While the old or previous types may be found in the succeeding deposits, some new types-indicating a new industry or culture - should be there. This is either absent or we have so far not found what is called the "Upper Palaeolithic blade element". Likewise the true Lower Palaeolithic complex of handaxes and cleavers is also missing. No doubt, there are a couple of cleaver-like pieces, one from the lowest gravel. But these are not indeed sufficient to change the nature of the industry which mainly seems to comprise scrapers, points and borers.
c7.s17.t3.8
The burin-like pieces were also examined by Professor ZEUNER. While the typical burin-facet intentionally given to a chisel-edge does not seem to be in evidence, still it is possible that such chisel-ended pieces were naturally available in the locality owing to the peculiar nature of the rock and probably used by man, though for the latter view, we have very little proof either.
c7.s17.t3.9
These tools may be compared with those illustrated by TODD. Our collection also includes crude handaxe-like specimens, and two small cleavers. But the rest are points, borers and scrapers. These are all made in the form and technique visible in what is now called Series II or Middle Palaeolithic (or Stone age) tools from Maharashtra, Karnatak, Andhra, Orissa, Central Provinces, Central India and Western Rajputana.
c7.s17.t3.10
Whether this Stone Age Culture was followed by the one in which long blades and burins and gravers played a prominent part or was immediately succeeded by one in which microliths come into the picture, cannot be said for certain. For our collection of burins from the "mixed deposit" is of doubtful nature. Probably a further intensive search, which is planned, may help elucidate the problem.
c7.s17.t3.11
Gujarat
c7.s17.t3.12
Northern and Central Gujarat which have given abundant evidence of the Early Palaeolithic and Microlithic cultures have so far not yielded tools of the Middle Palaeolithic. The main reason is that the region has not been examined from this point of view. The Sabarmati and its tributaries call for a fresh exploration. Twenty years ago this aspect of the Stone Age cultures was not known. Consequently, tools if found, were likely to be mixed up with microliths.
c7.s17.t3.13
Recently Shri SOUNDARA RAJAN⁸⁰ discovered a few tools in a fine gravel deposit lying as a small terrace against or under the thick deposits of loamy silt, which are such a characteristic feature of Gujarat, on the Mohor River. If this gravel really underlies silt, then it is of some antiquity. That probably it is so, is suggested by the borings at Lunej, near Cambay, where an earlier - Middle Pleistocene - and later gravel strata intercalated by silts and sands are reported. Thus the stratigraphical position of the tools, if found *in situ*, is not uncertain.
c7.s17.t3.14
⁸⁰ SOUNDARA RAJAN, K. V., "Middle Stone Age Sites from Kaira District in Gujarat", Journal, Oriental Institute, Baroda, Vol. X, 1960, pp. 106-79.
c7.s17.t3.15
However among the 30 tools of chert and agate there are a few fluted cores, which normally characterize the later microlithic industry. Thus a shadow is cast on the assemblage. It may be a mixed lot, and the patches of gravel, as SOUNDARA RAJAN himself says, possibly contaminated by later re-wash.