An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s11: 4.11 Copper Hoard
An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s11
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4.11 Copper Hoard
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Ever since 1822, when for the first time the discovery of a hoard of copper tools and weapons was reported, Indian archaeology, in the absence of well-stratified data, is faced with the problems of the authors of many such hoards reported later on, the regular settlements of their makers and the chronological bracket of the culture they represent.
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The Copper Hoards include a large variety of tool types [19.2], such as flat celts, hatchets, shouldered celts, bar celts, rings, antennae swords, harpoons, lugged spearheads and anthropomorphic figures, each with several subtypes. Chemical analysis shows that by and large the tools were made of pure copper of up to 98% purity (Lal, 1951). Technological studies reveal that most of them were completely cast in single or double moulds or both, before being finished by hammering, chiselling, filing and tempering (Agrawal, 1971, p. 186). Experiments and ethnological parallels indicate they are likely to have been used in war and chase as well as in jungle clearance; agricultural implements are yet to be found. The utility of types like anthropomorphic figures is still uncertain; they may have been weapons or cult objects.
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The Hoards have been located over a very wide area, from West Bengal and Orissa in the e. to Gujarat and Haryana in the w., and from Andhra Pradesh in the s. to Uttar Pradesh in the n. They have however been found concentrated in Bihar and w. Uttar Pradesh, their main focus being the Ganga-Yamuna doab, though the largest hoard comes from GUNGERIA in Dt Balaghat, which contains 424 tools and weapons and 102 thin sheets of silver objects, mainly ox heads and discs of indeterminate use.
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Fig. 19. Copper hard objects: 1, anthropomorphic figure—Sheorajpur, 2, 3, antennae sword—Fatehgarh; 4, 5, harpoons respectively from Sarthauli and Bisauli; 6, ring—Pondi; 7, hooked spearhead—Sarthauli; 8, hatchet (*parasu*)—Sarthauli; 9, celt—Gungeria; 10, shouldered celt—Dunria; 11, double-edged axe—Bhagra Pir; 12, 13, bar-celts—Gungeria
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At SAIPAI in Dt Etawah a hoard has been found directly associated with the OCW [4.12]. At other sites such an association has been surmised only on circumstantial grounds. Thus at BAHADRABAD near Hardwar some canal-diggers reported a large hoard from a particular spot, but excavation conducted there subsequently yielded only pottery and no tools. The situation is the same at RAJPUR PARSU opposite HASTINĀPURA in Dt Meerut and other places.
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Most of the OCW sites in the doab appear to have been badly destroyed by floods, leaving behind unstratified deposits. However sites like LAL QILA in Dt Bulandshahr and JODHPURA in Dt Jaipur have yielded evidence of mud houses, wooden huts, paved floors, hearths, terracotta human (male) and bull figurines and red pottery with designs, geometrical and floral, painted in black. SAIPAI has yielded pots with short tubular spouts and strap handles, turned ochrous in waterlogged deposits. ATRANJIKHERA in Dt Etah has given similar pottery with a variety of incised patterns. BAHADRABAD and AMBKHERI in Dt Saharanpur have yielded late Harappa types, such as squat dishes-on-stand and medium-sized vases [4.10].
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The chronology is determined only on circumstantial grounds. A fragmentary anthropomorphic figure has been reported from the latest levels of the Harappa site of Lothal (though the identification of the object with an anthropomorph has been questioned, Agrawal, 1971, p. 193). A shouldered celt from NAVDATOLI and a small antennae hilted dagger from CHANDOLI, both Chalcolithic [4.14], place them practically in the same chronological level—middle of the 2nd millennium B.C. Half-a-dozen thermoluminescence [5.6] dates of OCW sherds from a number of the doab sites fall in the early to late 2nd millennium B.C. The pottery from w. Uttar Pradesh sites includes late Harappa wares [4.10] datable to the same time-span. Broadly speaking therefore the Hoards may be dated to the 2nd millennium B.C.
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In view of the absence of copper ores in the doab and the occurrence of only the simpler forms of tools near the copper-producing areas of Bihar, in contrast to the developed forms found in w. Uttar Pradesh, it has been surmised that the hoards originated in Bihar and developed in the w. region. As a corollary, it has also been hypothesized that originally their makers were the ancestors of the present-day Mundas, who at one time came into contact with the Indo-Aryans coming from the w., but the theory has not been established. They are also thought to be associated with the Harappa refugees migrating into the doab after the onslaught by the Indo-Aryans in Punjab, but this also is uncertain. In fact there have been more suppositions than certainties.
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Chakrabarti, D.K., 1977, in *Man & Environment*, 1, p. 68, drawing attention to an anthropomorph in the Brooklyn Museum, said to be from the Indus valley but really from the Ganga-Yamuna valley. Gupta, S.P., 1963, in *Jour. Bihar Res. Soc.*, 49, pp. 147-66. Lal, B.B., 1951, in *AI*, 7, pp. 20-39 with references. For sites see respective entries in vol. II.—S.P. GUPTA