Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c17.s1.7

v1.c17.s1.7

After this description of the copper implements and their find spots, one is naturally anxious to know something about their authorship and chronological horizon. Earlier writers like Vincent Smith (1905, 1907) and Hirananda Shastri (1915) did not have much comparative material before them and could not therefore dwell on this aspect of the problem. In later years however, quite a lot has been said on the subject specially by two eminent archaeologists, R. Heine-Geldern (1936, 1937) and Stuart Piggott (1944). Among these two, the first scholar thinks that it is the Vedic Aryans who produced these objects somewhere between 1200 and 1000 BC. According to Piggott’s latest views the copper hoards are to be associated with Harappan refugees and not the Aryans. (Lal, 1951: 31)