Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c16.s3.t1: Jorwe

Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c16.s3.t1

Language: English

Jorwe

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The site Jorwe is a small village on the north or the left bank of the Pravara river. It is about 5 miles due east of Sangamner which is a Taluk place of some importance in Ahmadnagar district.

The affinity of Jorwe painted pottery with Nasik and Nevasa ware suggests that the Jorwe Culture may be at least contemporary with these two sites. Its microlith industry exhibits features which are again identical with those at Navdatoli. Here too the industry belongs definitely to a proto-historic period and is associated with a richer painted pottery complex and a little copper or bronze. It would therefore not be unjustified if the Jorwe Culture is assigned provisionally to a copper or Early Bronze period. (Sankalia and Deo, 1955: 150)

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Six flat celts of low grade bronze have been discovered in a painted pot at Jorwe. All the axes were covered with a fine, thin, green patina. Microscopic examination and chemical analysis of this piece showed that the axe was cast from molten metal. It has 1.78 per cent of tin and 98.04 per cent of copper. Therefore it is concluded that the axe is low grade alloy of bronze. Though the outside surface is slightly oxidized and has a thin greenish patina, the freshly cut surface is reddish yellow. The Jorwe axes have thickness comparable to that of the Indus Valley samples. The copper bangle found is made of pure copper and ring-like in shape. It is of single type nearly round with overlapping ends, made out of a solid cylindrical rod 12 mm in diameter and 32.2 mm long. (Sankalia and Deo, 1955: 157-60)

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Only one bead was found. It is of smoky chalcedony of long tubular shape with the outer surface well-polished, length 21 mm, diameter 5 mm.

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The main bulk of the pottery collection from Jorwe consists of sherds — mostly shoulder pieces — too fragmentary to indicate the shape that were employed in the various classes of the Jorwe ware. Barring a few very large storage jars, very small pots and lamps and dishes which are hand-made, the pottery is wheel-made. An examination of the core colours revealed that at least three different kinds of clay were used — red brown, grey and black which — under conditions of thorough oxidization burnt red. These clays appear to be alluvial and have a natural admixture of fine sand and therefore require no tempering material. Nearly all the pottery of Jorwe is made of local clay, its three kinds being available in abundance in the vicinity of Jorwe and in the middle and western parts of the northern half of the Ahmadnagar District. This tract of land lies in the valley of the Pravara. The soil along the banks of these rivers, particularly those of the Pravara, is extremely rich and clayey and resolves itself in three varieties: *kāli* or black, *tambat* or red and *barad* or grey, all noted for their more or less ferruginous character. In such favourable condition Jorwe appears to have developed as a centre of potters' craft in remote times. (Sankalia and Deo, 1955: 160-62)