An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s6.t3: 4.6.5 Chota Nagpur region
An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s6.t3
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4.6.5 Chota Nagpur region
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Occupying the hilly s. part of Bihar and described as a physiographic province of the e. plateaux of India, Chota Nagpur is a forested, much dissected and overdrained region with a monsoon type of climate and with a large aboriginal population. Its archaeological record goes back to the Lower Palaeolithic [4.2], geologically belonging to the Middle Pleistocene [9.8.2]. Its Neolithic culture is known from a scatter of open sites located in Dts Ranchi, Singhbhum and Santal Parganas, which have revealed the occurrence of stone tool industries, pottery, terracotta beads and other objects. The tool industries are dominated by the celt family of tools—axe, adze, hoe and chisel and their variants. No dwellings have been identified; nor there is any direct evidence of agriculture. However crude potsherds from Singhbhum have chaff or chopped straw in the clay. The assemblage of artefacts stated above, including grinders and saddle querns [6.19], together with handmade pottery, suggests a rural economy based on subsistence agriculture. It appears and mud walls, was compact.
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The chronology of the Neolithic culture in this region is still somewhat obscure. ¹⁴C dates are available only from CHIRAND, where the estimated mean date is 1535 B.C., the range of variation of all the dates being between 1910 and 1165 B.C. The dating of other sites is simply based on the assemblage of artefacts and their typo-technological characters in terms of chrono-cultural scale.
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that the Neolithic culture predated the Iron Age [4.16] and succeeded a post-Pleistocene microlithic industry [4.5]. The use of stone axes and adzes however persisted till a late date.
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A chain of Neolithic sites has been found in the Singhbhum peneplains extending from Chakradharpur along the Sanjai valley. Artefacts are found on the surface or exposed in denuded sections and by digging in low mound-like deposits of dark clay. The main sites are CHAKRADHARPUR, CHAINPUR, BARDA, UKRI, BARUDIH, DUGNI and GOVINDPUR. Besides, two sites in Manbhum—BONGARA and BHANGAT—may be mentioned. Up in the Ranchi peneplaned plateau a scatter of sites has been found in the vicinity of Ranchi, BESIA, MANDAR and KHUNTI. The tools occur on the surface of blackish, occasionally reddish, soil. In the Santal Parganas upland, rich tool localities have been found in the region around Dumka, with MOHANPAHARI as the main site. Stray finds have been reported from Dts Hazaribagh and Purulia. The spatial distribution of the sites and the temporary nature of their occupation in similar geographical contexts suggest that the people moved from place to place clearing forests and practising shifting cultivation.
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The tool types, as a whole, mainly include chipped and smoothed axes, adzes, hoes, chisels and their variants, besides hammer axes, hammer stones, ring stones, pounders, grinders, saddle querns, hones and scrapers. The dominating types are the rounded-butt trapezoidal axe and the roundly pointed triangular axe which generally show bifacial smoothing round the cutting ends (sometimes bevelled) and lenticular or ovaloid (occasionally rectangular) transverse sections. There are also a few faceted tools, shouldered hoes or adzes and small and tiny celts (more common in Santal Parganas). The shouldered hoes or adzes, mostly collected accidentally, are not known to have been found with other artefacts at any specific sites. Stone and terracotta beads, dabbers and potsherds, along with the tools mentioned above, are reported from Singhbhum. The potsherds are generally handmade and plain, of dull black or reddish brown in colour. A few reddish sherds show parallel lines and thumb impressions. Some potsherds reveal chaffs in the clay, while others show fine sand and clay mixed with *kankar*.
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The tool types are generally similar to those of other regions of e. India, which however show marked regional variations (especially in Assam) [4.6.6]. The trapezoidal and the triangular axe, also found s. in Karnataka [4.6.9], are spread over a large area in s.-e. Asia. The faceted and shouldered celts, confined to e. India and considered as later entrants, are well-known types in archaeological complexes of China and S.-E. Asia, tiny celts associated with trapezoidal and triangular axes and shouldered hoes having been found in s.-w. China and Burma.
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Allchin, F.R., 1962, in *Bull. Oriental & African Studies*, 25, pp. 306-30. Anderson, C.W., 1917, in *Jour. Bihar & Orissa Res. Soc.*, 3, pp. 349-62. Ball, V., 1870, in *Proc. Asiatic Soc. Bengal*, p. 268; 1875, in *ibid.*, pp. 118-20; 1870, *Jungle Life in e. India* Beeching, Capt., 1868, *Proc. Asiatic Soc. Bengal*, p. 177. Chakladar, H.C., 1941, in *Man in India*, 21, pp. 208-36; 1942, in *ibid.*, 22, pp. 140-62; 1955, in *ibid.*, 31, pp. 124-64. Dani, A.H., 1960, *Prehistory & Protohistory of e. India*, Calcutta, Ray, G.S., 1956, in *Man in India*, 36, pp. 49-55; 1963, in *ibid.*, 43, pp. 147-54. Roy, S.C., 1916, in *Jour. Bihar & Orissa Res. Soc.*, 2, pp. 61-74. Sen, D., 1950, in *Man in India*, 30, pp. 1-12; 1955. in *ibid.*, 35, pp. 176-85; 1969, in *Jour. Ind. Anthropological Soc.*, 4, pp. 17-27; 1975, in *ibid.*, 2, pp. 159-64. *Singhbhum Dt Gazetteer*, 1958. Thapar, B.K., 1965, in Misra, V.N., & Mate, M.S., *Indian Prehistory*, Poona, pp. 87-112. Worman, W.C., 1949, in *Jour. Washington Academy of Sciences*, 39, 6, pp. 181-201. For sites see respective entries in vol. II.—D. SEN