History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c11.s2.t1: The Banas Culture
History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c11.s2.t1
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The Banas Culture
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More than fifty sites of the Banas culture are known from the valleys of the Rivers Banas and Berach in southeastern Rajasthan, but the only excavated sites are Ahar and Gilund in Rajasthan and Kayatha in Madhya Pradesh. The available 14C dates (Fig.1) suggest a bracket of about 3950-3350 B.P. for this culture (Agrawal and Kusumgar, 1974).
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In contrast to the arid and flat western region where the only relief is provided by extensive sand dunes, Rajasthan is greener and more hilly in its eastern part and the Banas and the Chambal are almost perennial rivers in this area. Udaipur and its environs form a large basin, enclosed by hills, with a single broad opening on the northwestern side. Ahar, the type site of the Banas culture, is located in this basin, with good soil, fair rainfall, and plentiful game even today.
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There are schist and quartz outcrops, which the Aharians used in house building, and copper ores for their tools. It is curious that at Ahar only copper was used and no stone blades, while the Banas culture had a developed blade industry at Gilund, a mere 80km away, and also at Kayatha in Madhya Pradesh. Even copper, however, is not abundant, as only five axes, one knife blade, one sheet, a bangle, and two rings have been reported from Ahar.
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Fig. 6. Copper objects from Khurdi (in fact, Kurada), Rajasthan. These are generally included under the Copper Hoards but are typologically different from the main Copper Hoard group
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The Kayatha culture, discovered by Wakankar at Kayatha on the River Kalisindh, a tributary of the Chambal, is the earliest Chalcolithic culture in Central India and is radiocarbon dated between 3950 and 3750 B.P. (Fig. 1). This culture is mainly confined to the Chambal Valley, but, out of approximately 40 known sites, only Kayatha has been excavated (Ansari and Dhavalikar, 1975).
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The Kayathans seem to have been rich in copper; 28 copper bangles were recovered from a single pot. The two copper axes with sharp cutting edge and a lenticular section are the finest examples in the Bronze Age of India; they were cast in a mould, unlike the later Chalcolithic artifacts, which were merely hammered out of sheets. A chisel is also reported from Kayatha.