History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c11.s2.t2.2

v1.c11.s2.t2.2

The excavated sites of Eran, Nagda, and Navdatoli are in Madhya Pradesh, and Inamgaon is in Maharashtra. The Malwa culture has a radiocarbon range of around 3650-3350 B.P. (Fig. 1). Navdatoli is not only the site par excellence of this culture but is also well published (Sankalia et al, 1958, 1971). In the local dialect, Navdatoli means "village of the boatmen", and the site is situated on the southern bank of the River Narmada; the site of Maheshwar, also with extensive traces of settlement, is situated on the opposite bank. The site presents beautiful panorama of the tall Vindhyas in the north, the low Satpura hills in the south, and the wide expanse of the Narmada in between with considerable alluvial deposits on either side of the river. The selection of the site clearly shows that the Chalcolithic technology was adequate only for fresh alluvium and was not capable of dealing with the black cotton soil. Each household made its own stone tools of a milky chalcedony, using the crested-ridge technique.