An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c11.s18: 6.18 Ploughshares
An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c11.s18
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6.18 Ploughshares
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A pick-like object with a large pointed blade fixed to a plough, the ploughshare, originally perhaps of wood, is meant to cut the undersurface of the soil from the ground for purposes of cultivation. The earliest reported example found at TIMBARVA is of iron, associated with the NBPW [4.16]. The other early historical sites that have yielded iron ploughshares are NEVASA, SARADKEL, KAUSĀMBĪ and RAIRH. The SARADKEL specimen, of *c.* 1st century A D., is longitudinal in shape. The examples from KAUSĀMBĪ, A.D. 300, have an expanded edge to be attached to the plough, while the other edge is narrow and thick for tilling the ground. Ploughshares of rectangular cross-section with one end broken and the other tapering to a point have been reported from SOMNATH, datable between the 1st and 6th centuries A D. [See 16. 1.]
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For sites see respective entries in vol. II.—A. BANERJI