Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c17.s1.t2: Shoulder Celts

v1.c17.s1.t2.1

A second type of flat axe has a semi-circular cutting edge and a pronounced shoulder. This shoulder celts have a south-easterly distribution being in the main confined to eastern U.P., Bihar, Bengal and Orissa. No example has so far been found west of the Gangetic basin. Whether it has any connection with the ‘Burmese’ type of shoulder celt in stone cannot be said in the present state of our knowledge. It is also probable that the type may have developed from the flat celt, through intermediary examples having a well-splayed-out cutting-edge. (Lal, 1951: 24,32)