Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c16.s3.t5.11

v1.c16.s3.t5.11

That copper was doubtless scarce and was sparingly used for making axes, chisels, knives and fish hooks and also for beads and bangles is clearly substantiated by the excavation. Dhavalikar thinks that the chances of metal being imported from the distant Khetri mines of Rajasthan are slim; native copper and chalcopyrites have been reported from the vicinity of Inamgaon. Lumps of native copper were obviously heated and beaten into desired shapes. For extracting copper from chalcopyrites special furnaces were built and one such is reported from Inamgaon also. It is a boat-shaped structure built of clay on stone foundation having a clay cushion similar to that in the kiln for keeping the ore. Tylecote opines, that stylistically the furnace bears a family resemblance with the bronze age furnace in Israel which are dated second millennium BC. Dhavalikar suggests that unlike copper, the only source of gold was Hatti mines in Karnataka which were worked from the Neolithic times and the metal must have been brought to the Northern Deccan by way of trade. (Agarwal and Chakrabarti, 1979: 258)