An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c21.s15.11

v1.c21.s15.11

Flaking, pecking and grinding are the three basic techniques employed in manufacturing these artefacts. To these one may add the technique of polishing. It differs from grinding inasmuch as it presupposes the use of some greasy medium and does not result, as would happen with grinding, in the reduction of the body thickness of artefacts. After making a detailed study of the collections from n. Karnataka, Allchin, 1957, has concluded that the manufacture of edge tools, more particularly axes, involved five separate processes: (1) rough flaking for blocking out the tool from the nodule of raw material, (2) finer flaking for regularizing the form, (3) pecking, (4) edge grinding, and (5) overall grinding. But , as Allchin himself concedes, these processes cannot always be regarded as consecutive stages because there are numerous instances where axes or adzes have been fashioned out of blocks of suitable size by merely grinding the edge portion. Other classes of artefacts have been obtained by means of flaking and pecking. Considered as a whole, the assemblages of the Deccan and s. Neolithic cultures are richer than those of other cultures. In fact this region has several rich factory sites of the industry. SANGANAKALLU, Dt Bellary, and BILLAMARAYANAGUDDA, Dt Raichur, in n. Karnataka are two of the most important of these workshops. At the former site grinding grooves were used for grinding artefacts.