Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c17.s3: Pāṇḍu Rājār Dhibi and Associated Culture in Bengal
Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c17.s3
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Pāṇḍu Rājār Dhibi and Associated Culture in Bengal
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Hastināpur excavation showed that the copper hoard culture pottery preceded the PGW culture and therefore could be dated as 1000-1100 BC. This culture might have spread from Bengal as revealed from the dates of the chalcolithic Pāṇḍu Rājār Dhibi (Burdwan District, West Bengal, lat 23º 35' N long 87º 39' E, six miles from Bhedia on the Calcutta-Bolpur Line) and associated sites. Charred rice and other radio-carbon samples from Pāṇḍu Rājār Dhibi has been dated 1380 to 855 BC, Bharatpur in Burdwan district, 1350-1000 BC, these dates covering the period from the early chalcolithic to the advent of iron. (Allchins, 1983: 261)
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Pāṇḍu Rājār Dhibi excavation on the valley of the Ajay river shows several stages of inhabitation, Period I being agro-rural and neolithic-chalcolithic, and belonging to the middle of the second millennium BC. (Dasgupta, 1964) Microlithic industry flourished producing hand-axe of quartzite having rounded pebble-butt with dots of ochre-cloured *kaṅkar*. Gradually, black and red ware gave rise to lustrous red ware bearing a painted design in black. Period II witnessed flourishing chalcolithic civilisation and yielded beautiful channel-spouted bowls of black and red ware, beads, semi-precious stones, and objects of copper, such as copper bangles — some spiral ones, ornaments, eye-pencils, fish-hook etc. Also found were milk-white shell beads, microlithic flake of green jasper etc. During this period around eleventh century BC, there was an industry of bone tools.
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The channel-spouted bowls of black and red ware are comparable with the terracotta channel-spouted bowls of Navdatoli and Maheswar. Some scholars have compared these ornaments and potteries with the Minoan and Greek artefacts.
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Period III (around 1000 BC) revealed a few implements of iron including a long celt and an arrowhead with a hollow tang; this metal was totally absent in the Periods I & II. Also discovered was a fairly precious room with smooth lime-plastered floor and diagrammatic rows of lime-plastered ovens resembling those from Navadatoli in Central India. During this period, iron was known and probably smelted at this site, side by side with the use of copper. The area has been traditionally one of the few ones in India sufficiently close to copper as well as iron ore deposits.
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It is quite possible that there was a cultural diffusion from the Central India to this easterly site. The legs of some of the skeletons found in Pāṇḍu Rājār Dhibi were found to be severed from ankles as it happened at the chalcolithic sites of Chandoli and Nevasa in Maharashtra.
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Between the Periods III and IV, there was an extensive conflagration which might have been due to some foreign influence. In a pit of Period IV was found a round seal of black steatite which has been claimed by Michael Ridley, a British archaeologist, to be of Minoan origin. It is possible that there was some trade link with the people of Crete. (Dasgupta, 1964: 29) In the Trench No. 7A were found iron tools, double axe, terracotta mother goddess, hammered gold piece bearing minute parallel scratches, bronze fish with about 95.5 per cent of copper and a three-pronged tail identified with prehistoric *Coelacanth* species *Latemeria*.
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Similar artefacts have been found in West Bengal in the valleys of Ajay, Kunoor, Bhagirathi and Kopai, in Basantpur, Mangalkot (Lat. 23º 32' N long 87º 54' E), Ganga-Danga, Mandira (Lat. 23º 45' N long 87º 27' E) etc. Mangalkot, Mandira might have been ports during the end of the second millennium BC maintaining maritime contact with foreign lands across the sea.
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Recently microlithic chert tools, beaked jug or vase, short channel-spouted or lipped bowl, a good number of copper objects, fine scaraboid amulets of copper or bronze, a broken chisel, a miniature ship with a symbolic orb etc. have been discovered from Deulpota on the banks of the Ganga about six miles north of Diamond Harbour. These evidences testify to a thriving chalcolithic culture in the valleys of Ajay, Rupnarayan, Subarnarekha ending up in Bhagirathi and maintaining contacts with Central and northern India as well as distant foreign countries. (Dasgupta, 1964: 11-82)
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Copper Hoards people developed copper metal technology indigenously. Probably this technology was developed by itinerant smiths as indicated by lack of permanent settlement mounds near these hoards and complete absence of metal pots and pans. (Agarwal, 1971: 205) The artisans definitely knew closed casting and smelting, but probably did not know alloying or annealing and cold work for hardening the tools. (Agrawal, 1971: 242) Since the raw material was near the Singhbhum area, it is safe to presume that the copper hoard tradition spread from Bihar/Bengal region to the Gangetic Doab; the artefacts became more sophisticated in the latter area. The anthropomorphic figures could be either ritual totem or missiles or simple scarecrows.
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Although copper hoard by itself did not signify any ‘cultural’ pattern, this technology probably coincided in age with the pre-PGW Ochre washed Pottery tradition in the Doab as suggested from the Hastināpura excavation and the Pāṇḍu Rājār Dhibi culture in Bengal. The latter culture must have been indigenous. It is marked by painted BRW and also Black-on-Red wares covered by a time bracket of 1500-800 BC. Bharatpur, Pāṇḍu Rājār Dhibi, Mahishadal, where copper celt was found, were some of the principal sites showing links with other chalcolithic cultures e.g. copper-hoard tradition, Malwa/Navdatoli tradition of the Central India, and the second millennium chalcolithic culture of South-East Asian countries such as Thailand (Solheim, 1967). S.P. Gupta beautifully summarised (Gupta, 1965: 7):
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The period of the second millennium BC in India is not as dark as was thought a couple of decades back. Broadly speaking, the western regions had the late phase of Harappan culture, the southern regions the Neolithic-Chalcolithic complex, and the eastern regions the hoards.
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The Post-Harappans might have influenced the pottery traditions of the south and the east; some pottery and burial traditions travelled from the south-west and central India to the eastern culture of Bengal and the copper hoard tradition migrated from Bengal to the Doabs. A fusion of the three traditions took place around 1000 BC when India entered the iron age.
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Agrawal, D.P., 1971, *The Copper Bronze Age in India*, Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi. Allchin, Bridget and Raymond, 1983, *The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan*, Select Book Service Syndicate, New Delhi. Bose, Subhra, 1987, *Vajapeya: Essays on Evolution of Indian Art & Culture*, edited by A.M. Shastri and R.K. Sharma, Agam Kala Prakashan, Delhi. Dasgupta, P.C., 1964, “The Excavations at Pandu Rajar Dhibi”, *In Bulletin of the Directorate of Archaeology*, West Bengal, No. 2. Dutta, M.L., 1982, “Spectrographic Determination of Minor Constituents in Ancient Copper Slag”, *In Transactions of the Indian Institute of Metals*, Vol. 35, no. 5, October 1982, pp. 487-88. Gupta, S.P., 1965, “Further Copper Hoards: A Re-Assessment in the Light of New Evidence”, *In The Journal of the Bihar Research Society*, Vol. 51, Jan.-Dec., 1965, parts 1-4, pp. 1-7; also Vol. 49, 1963. Heine-Geldern, R., 1936, “Archaeological Traces of the Vedic Aryans”, *In Journal Indian Society of Oriental Art*, Vol. 4, 1936, pp. 87-113. Lal, B.B., 1951, “Further Copper Hoards from the Gangetic Basin and a Review of the Problem”, *In Ancient India*, No. 7, 1951, pp. 20-39. Shastri, H., 1915, “Recent Additions to our knowledge of the Copper Age Antiquities of the Indian Empire”, *In Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal*, New Series, No. 11, 1915, pp. 1-16. Smith, Vincent A., 1905, “The Copper Age and Prehistoric Bronze Implements of India”, *In Indian Antiquity*, Vol. 34, 1905, pp. 229-44; also Vol. 36, 1907, pp. 53-55. Solheim, W.C., 1967, *Science*, Vol. 157, p. 896.
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The Post-Harappan sites have influenced the pottery traditions of the east and west, and have been linked with the Painted Grey Ware and the chalcolithic cultures of the Deccan and the south. The problem of the origin of the Painted Grey Ware is still debated, but it is generally accepted that when India entered the Iron Age, the culture was already in a thriving state in the Ganges valley.
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Altekar, A.S., 1944. The Coinage of the Gupta Empire. Allchin, B. and Allchin, F.R., 1982. The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan. Cambridge University Press. Banerji, R.D., 1933. History of Orissa, Vol. I. Basham, A.L., 1954. The Wonder that was India. London. Chakrabarti, D.K., 1988. A History of Indian Archaeology. New Delhi. Chakrabarti, D.K., 1992. The Early Use of Iron in India. Oxford University Press. Dani, A.H., 1963. Prehistory and Protohistory of Eastern India. Calcutta. Dikshit, K.N., 1984. 'The Sothi Complex: Old Records and Fresh Observations', in B.B. Lal and S.P. Gupta (eds.), Frontiers of the Indus Civilization. New Delhi. Ghosh, A., 1973. The City in Early Historical India. Simla. Gupta, P.L., 1974. Gangetic Valley Terracotta Art. Varanasi. Lal, B.B., 1954-55. 'Excavation at Hastinapura and other explorations in the Upper Ganga and Sutlej Basins', Ancient India, Nos. 10-11. Marshall, J., 1931. Mohenjo-daro and the Indus Civilization. London. Piggott, S., 1950. Prehistoric India. Harmondsworth. Sankalia, H.D., 1974. Prehistory and Protohistory of India and Pakistan. Pune. Sharma, G.R., 1960. The Excavations at Kausambi. Allahabad. Thapar, B.K., 1985. Recent Archaeological Discoveries in India. Paris. Wheeler, R.E.M., 1947. 'Harappa 1946: the defences and cemetery R 37', Ancient India, No. 3. Wheeler, R.E.M., 1953. The Indus Civilization. Cambridge.