Early India and Pakistan to Ashoka c7.50

c7.50

The great Civilization which flourished in the Indus valley and southwards to the Gulf of Cambay at the end of the 3rd millennium will be discussed in the next chapter, but here it may be observed that the common knife with which this Civilization widely supplemented its bronze tools was a long, parallel-sided blade of chert. Similar blades are found in some of the Baluch hill-communities which existed before or alongside the Civilization. The blades were rarely retouched; Colonel D. H. Gordon has noted that, of 1,758 examined at the two principal Indus sites, only 104 showed any secondary working; a few of these had been worked down both sides to form a point, some are backed, and some are notched at the base for binding to a handle. The peculiarly brilliant gloss produced on the edge by the cutting of corn has occasionally been detected. Some of the nuclei or cores were also polished and had probably been used as burnishers on metal. No characteristic microlithic forms are present. On the other hand, there are a few large (sometimes huge) square-sectioned 'axes' which may have been either hoes or tree-cutters.