Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c16.s3.t4: Chandoli
Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c16.s3.t4
- Language
- English
Chandoli
v1.c16.s3.t4.1
The village of Chandoli lies on the right bank of the river Ghod in the Poona district of the State of Maharashtra.
v1.c16.s3.t4.2
In assigning Chandoli its due place in the sequence of the Chalcolithic, the ceramic evidences from Navdatoli in Central India and Nevasa and Dāimābād in the Deccan have to be considered. So far as the relative chronology is concerned, Chandoli may be taken to be later than the earlier phases of Navdatoli and possibly a little earlier than Nevasa. Thus on the basis of C-14 determination of Jorwe fabric and cream slipped ware of Navdatoli, the date of Chandoli might range between 1400 and 1600 BC or later. This was corroborated by the carbon fourteen date of Chandoli which falls near about 1300 BC. (Deo and Ansari, 1965: 24-25)
v1.c16.s3.t4.3
The seventynine beads from Chandoli were made of ten materials, i.e., agate 12, carnelian 6, jasper 13, slatestone 2, steatite 1, shell 26, copper 9, glass 3 and terracotta 6. So it is to be noticed that faience, the most common material in vogue in the proto-historic horizons is conspicuous by its absence at Chandoli whereas steatite is represented by a single specimen. This may however appear strange as Chandoli is a part and parcel of the Deccan and Central Indian Chalcolithic, and in both these regions these are the most common bead materials.
v1.c16.s3.t4.4
On the other hand, shell accounts for the maximum number of beads. The waste pieces of shells and shell beads in different stages of manufacture suggest that though shells were imported, beads were made locally. From the size and thickness of the beads it has been concluded that Chandoli managed to import sea shells from coastal regions and then process locally. So far as the semi-precious stones are concerned, the order of preference was banded agate, red jasper and carnelian. This dearth of ornaments was relieved by the find of the remains of a necklace of copper beads, nine in number, small barrel in shape and woven in a thread, the remains of which were visibly jutting out from a group of three beads of this necklace. The rest of the collection of the beads shows stereotype typology. Long barrels, tubes, small cylinders, short truncated barrels, globular, biconical and discs are the shapes represented. Star beads, collard barrels and discs are absent here. There was also the absence of spacers and pendants in the proto-historic level of Chandoli. As no glass or glaze was associated with proto-historic levels, it may be said that the Chandoli folks of this period were not aware of the technique of glazing. (Deo and Ansari, 1965: 107-10)
v1.c16.s3.t4.5
Copper objects found at Chandoli are not many but display a fair variety. The twenty-four objects include tools, weapons and ornaments. These are chisels, celt, dagger with antennae and bangle ring, beads, rod and anklet. Among all these things, the most remarkable find in copper is the dagger or spear blade with an antennae hilt, because earlier this type of dagger was found from the Indo-Gangetic level in an unstratified context, whereas at Chandoli the sample has been obtained from a stratified level (~ 1330 BC).
v1.c16.s3.t4.6
Among the copper objects found at Chandoli, only two — a spearhead and an axe — have been chemically analysed. These two objects assay respectively 96.39 and 95.11 per cent Cu; 1.23 and 1.81 Fe; 1.55 and 1.68 Pb; 0.41 and 0.62 Zn; and 0.31 and 0.26 per cent Ni. The materials were probably not deliberately alloyed but made out of multi-metallic Cu-Pb-Zn complex ore. Metallographic studies showed globular inclusions of cuprous oxide and lead metal.
v1.c16.s3.t4.7
The metal is porous due to unsound casting technique. The absence of coring and the presence of equiaxial grains indicate that the metal is homogeneous and was very slowly cooled after casting. The twinning that is observed near the porosity holes is probably due to the pressure applied by the gases, trapped within the porosity holes. The technique of venting the mould to allow for the free escape of the evolved gases was evidently not employed in the production of this axe. Anyhow, the celts, the anklets, the bangles and the rings mostly show preparation by hammering. (K.T.M. Hegde In Chalcolithic Chandoli by Deo and Ansari, 1965: 185-86)
v1.c16.s3.t4.8
The beads seem to have been fashioned out of thin copper sheet by turning it around a rod, while the dagger is one whole piece. On the other hand the antennae shows distinct traces of its being cut out from the tang. The chisel however seems to have been hammered to a rectangular body out of a circular rod as the overlapping side edges indicate. (Deo and Ansari, 1965: 113-16, 141 and 185-86)
v1.c16.s3.t4.9
The terracotta objects of Chandoli comprises of lamps, sharpeners, discs, wheels, cakes, stopper, toy animal, stands and theriomorphic figure, whereas everything have some definite purpose, except the theriomorphic figure. It is made of a very fine clay which is well fired. This material is suggestive of some alien influence.
v1.c16.s3.t4.10
The stone objects found at Chandoli are mostly made from basalt which is locally available. The stone objects found from here are saddle querns, flat querns, rubber stones, pounders, pounders-cum-rubber stone, anvils, stone balls, and sharpening stone. These objects like saddle querns and rubber stones give us a glimpse of the organized life of the Chalcolithic people of Chandoli.
v1.c16.s3.t4.11
The ceramic collection of Chandoli comprised mainly of red wares, black wares and grey wares. Among the group of red wares were Jorwe, Malwa, Lustrous red, Ochre washed ware, etc. The Jorwe ware formed nearly 37 per cent of the entire collection of pottery and thus may be taken to be one of the dominant industries. The clay used was free from any degraissant save in some cases very fine sand and mica. It possibly contained lot of iron which is one of the most important constituents of the soil available in Deccan. The clay was very well levigated and the firing was uniform.
v1.c16.s3.t4.12
At Chandoli, one interesting thing that has been found was the use of flux and silk, which is evidenced at Nevasa also. Only at Mohenjo-Daro scraps of textile as presented on a silver vase and a copper razor as also the find of some pieces of string, all show the use of cotton.