History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c11.s2.t4.1

v1.c11.s2.t4.1

The Chalcolithic cultures depended on stone artifacts, rather than on copper, to a greater extent than either the Harappans or the Copper Hoards people. On the whole, about 17% of Chalcolithic artifacts show tin alloying (see Fig. 5), but the range varies considerably: at Ahar, only pure copper was used; a Jorwe axe has only 1.7% tin; a Nevasa chisel has 2.7% tin; at Navdatoli, the range of tin alloying is 3-5%; the highest tin (12.8%) recorded was in an axe from Somnath. Unlike the Harappan and Copper Hoard cultures, Chalcolithic groups did not alloy with arsenic. For better fusibility, lead alloying was more common; 20% of the artifacts contain lead.