History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c10.s1.t6.63

v1.c10.s1.t6.63

Technological variation within a typological group of industries of the Lower Palaeolithic phase also depended on the nature of raw material. The industries of Nagarjunakonda-1 and Chirki-Nevasa, for instance, belonged to one typological group viz., cleaver dominated Acheulian group. Though cleavers were found to be dominating both of these industries, great variation was noticed in the techniques of detaching cleaver-flakes. In Nagarjunakonda valley big boulders of quartzite were available to the Acheulian man. He cleverly exploited their natural curvatures for obtaining cleaver-shaped flakes without artificially preparing the surface of the cores (Fig.10). In contrast to this at Chirki-Nevasa, the raw material was obtained from the nearby dykes of dolerite. The angular blocks of stones needed a thorough preparation before detaching desired flakes. The cleaver-flake of Chirki-Nevasa tool-kit evidence use of Para-Levallois (Fig.11). The form of raw material, thus seems to be one of the significant factors responsible for the predominance of unprepared cleaver- shaped flakes in the Nagarjunakonda industry and of the prepared and Levallois flakes in Chirki-Nevasa industry.