An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c11.s2.3

v1.c11.s2.3

Shaft-hole axes, representing a superior technology, have two terracotta models at Mohenjo-daro (Mackay, 1938, 1, pp. 458-9) and may thus have not been altogether unknown to the Indus people, particularly as a bronze specimen occurs in the upper levels of Mohenjo-daro (Mackay, *ibid*). On the ground that a bronze shaft-hole axe has been found in the (post-Harappa) Jhukar level of Chanhu-daro (Mackay, 1943, p. 188) and a copper one in the Shahi Tump cemetery (Stein, 1931) it has been thought that the type was introduced into the subcontinent as a result of some foreign invasion (Allchin, 1968, p. 146), but such an inference may be unjustified. Trunnion axes such as the ones found at Shalozan in the Kurram valley and in Gilgit Karakoram never became popular in India.