History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c10.36

v1.c10.36

The finds from Baidyapur include a new class of neolithic implements, which look like corn-crushers to me but which Prof. Hem Chandra Das Gupta of the Presidency College trusts to be hammers. They are small truncated cones or pyramids in shape, very often with polished sides. The oldest of them is broken at top and bottom but its sides are polished. It measures 3.5 inches in height. The next one is the largest and looks like a regular pestle. The base is convex in shape and both the top and the bottom are blunt. The height is 4.7 inches and the width at the base 2.5 inches. The majority of the implements have straight sides and therefore a rectilinear base. They have pointed tops if they are well preserved. Prof. Das Gupta is of opinion that these sharper points were used for halfting. The height of one specimen is 4.5 inches and the width at the base 1.7. All four sides of this specimen are perfectly straight and polished. The next specimen is of the same kind, though less well preserved. It is 4 inches in height, 1.9 at the base and 1.8 inch on the sides. In this case the top and the bottom are both broken.