History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c24.s1.42

v1.c24.s1.42

The only metallic implement (Upadhyaya, 1987) of the pre-Harappan people (4th millennium B.C. to the middle of 3rd millenniu B.C.) which could have been used for agricultural purposes was axe made of copper. The furrowed field, exposed by excavations at Kalibangan (Lal) will require us to assume that ploughing or digging was done by a wooden plough or some stone implement. In the Harappan assemblage of copper and bronze implements those for agriculture are approximately 19.2% . Of these, axes of various types cover 88%, hoe, sickle and ploughshare being respectively 3.4%, 4.2%, and 4.2%. The excavators have not reported any ploughshare, but, according to Upadhyaya (pp. 42-43) five implements, described as chisels, which are thin and narrow and measure 20 cm. or more (Mackay, p.473: Marshall, p.502; Vats, p.88, see Plates) were used as ploughshare. The Copper hoard culture, whose emergence was contemporaneous with the mature Harappan, is characterised by axes of various types, flat axe, shouldered axe, splayed axe, narrow splayed axe, bar axe, or long narrow axe and double axe, which could have been used also for clearing forests for agriculture. The large number of bar axes found in Chhotanagpur (Yule et al, pp.126-128) were possibly used as digging implements. A Parasu, a Khurpi and two suspected ploughshares [IAR, 1971-72, p.51, Pl.LXV(B); IAR, 1976-77, p. 82, Pl.LXIII(A)] have also ben noticed in the copper hoard assemblage. Copper axes are found also with the Chalcolithic cultures of Central India, Deccan and the Neolithic-Chalcolithic culture of South India.