History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c24.s6.6

v1.c24.s6.6

The earliest archaeological evidence about an irrigational device is available from Inamgaon, a Chalcolithic site. It is in the form of an embankment and a channel belonging to the early Jorwe period (c. 1300 B.C.). It is 240 m. × 2.25 m. on the right bank of the Ghod river and is built of stone rubbles set in mud in its basal courses. Parallel to it is a channel running north-west measuring 118m × 4m and 3.5m deep. It was dug through hard ‘marrum’ down to rock and prevented much loss of seepage. The huge basaltic outcrop on the left bank of the river checked the flow of flood water. The channel served not only for flood diversion but also for storing water (54000 cubic feet) of which excess could be diverted by gravity flow into the fields to the west and in winter when the water level sunk pot irrigation was resorted to (Misra and Bellwood, 1985, p. 388).