Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c25.t2.3

v1.c25.t2.3

Circumstantial evidences suggest that Rajasthan provided the earliest copper ores to Chalcolithic India (fig. 17.1 and Tables 17.1-17.2). This area sustained the Pre-, Mature- and Post-Harappan chalcolithic cultures of the North-Western India over a considerable period of centuries. As we have discussed in chapter 2, the Pre-Harappan Jodhpura OCP Culture received copper ores and artefacts from the mines around Ganeshwar area (fig. 17.2). R.C. Agrawala *et al.* (1982, 1984) have explained the strategic positions of the mines of Chiplata, Baleshwar, Dariba (the word means copper mine — so many Dariba’s in Rajasthan!) etc. around the Ganeshwar hilly area in which originated the navigable rivers of Sabi, Sota, Kasaunti, Dohan, Kantli etc. These rivers are dotted with ancient mines and might have carried the end-products and ingots to the Harappan sites of the Sarasvati and the Indus river system.