Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan c8.s13.1

c8.s13.1

The position in Maharashtra is not much different. Natural caves are few. However, large openings may be seen at the junction of the two lava flows, for instance in the steep sides of the hills, about eight miles south of Sangamner. But hill slopes, for instance, Dighi⁵⁹ near Poona on the Alandi road, those near the University and the Fergusson College⁶⁰ and the Ellora⁶¹ and Karla⁶² caves are strewn with microliths. At one time, it is difficult to say when or whether these were all workshops of the microlithic man. Veins of agate, chalcedony and quartz criss-cross these basaltic hills and plateaus. Raw material is thus plentiful. It is for us to decide what are tools and what are natural chips. Ninety-nine per cent of any collection will be found to be full of rejects, in which may be found even what are called "bored flakes." These are either natural or artificially removed flakes from cores with natural (full or incomplete) cavities. No evidence is so far available that such bored flakes were ever used by man as ornaments and the like. Cliffs along the rivers Godavari and Pravara right from Nasik and Vite in the west to Paithan in the east, in Nasik and Ahmadnagar Districts were covered during the last aggradation phase with a loose kankary gravel.⁶³ These abound in microliths made principally on milky chalcedony and agate. With a little experience one can easily distinguish these microliths from those of the Chalcolithic period. The former includes short fluted and irregular cores, lunates (some very large), small parallel-sided and one-edged blades, scrapers of several types, and a large number of chips. On the whole these are thicker than the blades etc. of the Chalcolithic facies, whereas those of the still earlier period are still more thick and very often patinated.