Between Stone and Metal: India's Chalcolithic Cultures and Settled Village Life

The Stone-Copper Phase (Chalcolithic Age)

Towards the end of the Neolithic period, humans began experimenting with metals. The first metal to be used was copper, and cultures that combined stone and copper implements are called Chalcolithic (from Greek: chalcos = copper, lithos = stone). This phase was not a sharp break from the Neolithic but an evolutionary transition - in south India the Neolithic imperceptibly faded into the Chalcolithic, which is why those cultures are often called Neolithic-Chalcolithic.

The Stone-Copper phase in India broadly spans c. 2000 BC to 700 BC, though some regional cultures (like Kayatha and Eran in Malwa) are earlier, and others in West Bengal persisted later.

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Chalcolithic settlements were found across a wide arc:

Chalcolithic traces have been found almost all over the country except the alluvial plains and thickly forested areas.

Chronological order of settlements:

• Earliest: Kayatha and Eran (Malwa/central India)
• Middle: Western Maharashtra (Inamgaon, Jorwe)
• Latest: Eastern India (West Bengal)

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• People used small stone tools in which the stone blade held an important position.
• The stone blade (microlith) industry flourished even as stone axes continued.
• Copper implements supplemented but did not replace stone.
• In certain settlements, especially Ahar and Gilund (Banas valley, Rajasthan), copper objects are found in good numbers because raw copper was locally available. At Ahar, stone axes and blades are completely absent - replaced by copper axes and objects.
• Flat rectangular copper axes found at Jorwe and Chandoli (Maharashtra); copper chisels at Chandoli.
• Chalcolithic people were expert copper smiths and also skilled stone workers.
• They knew spinning and weaving - spindle whorls discovered in Malwa; cotton, flax, and silk threads found in Maharashtra.
• They used the lota (water vessel) but show no trace of the thali.
• Copper was pliant as a metal - people did not know how to mix tin with copper to produce the harder metal bronze, which is why they could not match the technological level of the Harappans or the earliest Bronze Age civilizations.

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The most diagnostic feature of chalcolithic culture is its black-and-red pottery, which was:

• Wheel-thrown
• Occasionally painted with white linear designs
• Widely prevalent across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, and West Bengal
• The first painted pottery in India

However, one must not assume uniformity - pottery forms and implements differ across regions:

• People of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra produced channel-spouted pots, dishes-on-stand, and bowls-on-stand.
• Jorwe culture (named after the type-site on the Pravara river) is particularly associated with painted black-on-red pottery (c. 1200 BC).
• Black-and-red pottery continued till the second century BC in many parts of the country.

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Chalcolithic communities cultivated far more cereals than Neolithic communities and founded the first villages in India.

Crops cultivated:

• Western India: barley, wheat, lentil (masur)
• Southern and eastern India: rice
• Additional crops: bajra, black gram, green gram, grass pea
• Cash crops: Cotton (Deccan black cotton soil), flax, ragi, bajra, several millets (lower Deccan)
• Navdatoli (on the Narmada, Maharashtra) is the most remarkable single site - almost all known cereals of this period have been found here, including ber and linseed.

Animal economy:

• Domesticated animals: cattle (cows and bullocks), sheep, goats, pigs, buffaloes
• Hunting: deer
• Camel remains are ambiguous - some identified as horse, donkey, or wild ass
• People ate beef but not pork on any considerable scale
• Eastern India: fish hooks found in Bihar and West Bengal -> fish and rice were staples

Economy type: Essentially rural and village-based. The chalcolithic economy was a village economy - no urban civilization. Settlements at Eran and Kayatha (central/western MP) were fortified with moats, but still no urban features.

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• People mostly founded rural settlements on river banks, not far from hills.
• Generally NOT acquainted with burnt bricks (unlike Harappans); houses mostly of wattle-and-daub, with thatched roofs.
• Occasionally mud bricks were used.
• Inamgaon (western Maharashtra) - two phases:
  • Earlier phase: large mud houses with ovens and circular pit houses.
  • Later phase (1300-1000 BC): house with five rooms (four rectangular, one circular).
• Jorwe culture settlements: Every Jorwe village was a nucleated settlement with more than 35 houses of different sizes, circular or rectangular in shape.
• Western Maharashtra and Rajasthan chalcolithic people appear to have been colonisers - their earliest settlements in Malwa/central India (Kayatha, Eran) are older; western Maharashtra settlements came later; West Bengal last.
• Eastern India (Chirand, Pandu Rajar Dhibi): round houses and postholes - poor structural remains.

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Burial practices:

• Maharashtra: dead buried under the floor of the house in the north-to-south position; no separate cemeteries (unlike Harappans who used separate cemeteries).
• South India: east-to-west position for burial.
• Maharashtra: almost complete or extended burial; West Bengal: post-extraction or fractional burial.
• Pots and copper objects deposited in graves - evidence of belief in afterlife.

Social inequality in burials:

• Chandoli and Nevasa (Maharashtra): some children buried with copper-bead necklaces while others had only pots as grave goods.
• Inamgaon: an adult buried with pottery and some copper.
• Kayatha: one house yielded 29 copper bangles and two unique axes, plus steatite and carnelian bead necklaces - evidence of affluent individuals.
• These differences signal the beginnings of social inequalities in India.

Religion:

• Chalcolithic people venerated the mother goddess.
• Terracotta figurines of women found -> mother goddess cult.
• Unbaked nude clay figurines also used for worship.
• A figure of the mother goddess similar to that found in Western Asia has been found at Inamgaon.
• In Malwa and Rajasthan: stylized bull terracottas -> bull served as a religious cult object.

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1. High infant mortality: Burial of large numbers of children in western Maharashtra indicates poor nutrition, absence of medical knowledge, or epidemic diseases.
2. Food-producing economy did not promote longevity.
3. Limited copper supply: Copper was scarce and pliant; people did not know bronze-smelting.
4. No writing: Unlike Harappans, chalcolithic people did not develop a script.
5. No cities: Despite fortified settlements like Eran and Kayatha, there was no urban civilization.
6. Younger than Indus civilization: Most Stone-Copper cultures were contemporaries or successors of the Harappans but did not derive substantial benefit from Harappan technological advances.
7. Duration: Scientifically established dates show the phase was not older than 1800 BC in western Maharashtra; continued in some areas till 1000 BC, in others till 800 BC or later. Old tools continued until ultimately replaced by iron.

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• More than forty hoards of copper objects found across a wide area from Chotanagpur plateau to the upper Gangetic basin.
• Nearly half concentrated in the Ganga-Yamuna doab; stray finds elsewhere.
• Contents of copper hoards: celts, harpoons, antennae swords, anthropomorphic figures - serving fishing, hunting, fighting, artisanal, and agricultural purposes.
• Found in association with ochre-coloured pots and mud structures in the upper Gangetic basin -> Ochre Coloured Pottery (OCP) culture.
• Copper hoards also found in Khetri zone (Rajasthan) and Bihar/neighbouring plateau areas.
• OCP culture period: roughly 2000-1800 BC.
• Copper-hoard people were among the earliest primitive agriculturists and artisans to settle in the doab.
• However, these settlements were short-lived (not more than a century or so) and small in size.
• Copper-hoard people were contemporaries of the Harappans - some give-and-take between the two cultures is expected.
• Sanctity of copper in Hindu religion (vessels, utensils) may have its roots in this Copper Age.

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• Founded the first villages in India with more cereal cultivation than any previous phase.
• Introduced painted pottery (black-and-red ware) - the first use of painting on pottery.
• Demonstrated early social stratification through differential burial goods.
• Showed knowledge of copper smelting and craftsmanship.
• Established rural settlement patterns that persisted into historic times.
• In South India, the Neolithic-Chalcolithic transition was seamless - showing continuity of cultural evolution.
• Despite its rural nature, the phase prepared the ground for later iron-using agricultural expansion into the Gangetic plains.

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• GS Paper I - Cultural History: Chalcolithic cultures represent the first phase of settled rural life and social differentiation in India - foundational to understanding Indian civilizational growth.
• Technology and Society: The transition from stone to copper reflects the relationship between available resources and socio-economic complexity - copper availability shaped the geography of culture.
• Continuity vs Change: The Neolithic-Chalcolithic continuity in south India versus the sharper break in western India illustrates that historical transitions are region-specific, not uniform.
• Social Inequality: Differential burial goods at Chandoli, Nevasa, and Kayatha represent the earliest archaeological evidence of social stratification in India outside the Indus Civilisation.
• Religion and Society: Mother goddess worship and bull cult connect chalcolithic religion with later Hindu traditions - relevant for cultural continuity questions.
• Interlink: Chalcolithic <-> Indus Valley Civilisation (contemporaneous but separate); Chalcolithic <-> Iron Age (successor phase); Chalcolithic <-> Neolithic (evolutionary predecessor).

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1. Ahar != stone tool site: At Ahar, stone axes and blades are completely absent - replaced by copper. Students often assume all chalcolithic sites used both stone and copper equally.

2. Black-and-red pottery != uniform culture: Using the same pottery type does not mean the same culture. RS Sharma explicitly warns against this - pottery forms and implements differ significantly across regions.

3. Chalcolithic people did NOT know bronze: They used copper, not bronze. They did not know how to mix tin with copper. Bronze characterises the Harappan and other Bronze Age civilisations.

4. Burial under house floors != universal: Maharashtra people buried dead under house floors; this was NOT the Harappan practice (Harappans used separate cemeteries). This is a frequent comparison question trap.

5. Jorwe culture is NOT the same as Inamgaon: Jorwe is the type-site (on Pravara river) giving the name to the broader culture. Inamgaon is an important site within the Jorwe cultural zone - but they are not identical.

6. OCP culture != Chalcolithic of Maharashtra: The Ochre Coloured Pottery culture with copper hoards is specific to the Ganga-Yamuna doab and upper Gangetic basin. Do not conflate with the western/central Indian chalcolithic cultures.

7. Chalcolithic people did NOT have writing: Unlike Harappans, who had a script, chalcolithic people left no writing - they were illiterate rural communities.

8. Navdatoli is in Maharashtra, not Rajasthan: Navdatoli is situated on the bank of the Narmada in Maharashtra - notable for the richest repertoire of food crops. Students confuse it with Rajasthan sites.

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• First metal used in India: Copper
• Chalcolithic = Stone + Copper phase
• Most extensive chalcolithic excavations: Western Maharashtra
• Characteristic pottery: Black-and-red ware (wheel-thrown, painted with white linear designs)
• First painted pottery in India: Chalcolithic
• Navdatoli: richest find of cereals - on Narmada, Maharashtra
• Ahar/Gilund: Banas valley, Rajasthan - copper-rich, stone tools absent at Ahar
• Jorwe culture: type-site on Pravara river; nucleated villages with 35+ houses
• Burial: under house floors (Maharashtra) - north-to-south orientation
• No bronze, no writing, no cities = key limitations
• OCP culture: Ganga-Yamuna doab, c. 2000-1800 BC, copper hoards
• Copper hoards: 40+ hoards, concentrated in doab; celts, harpoons, antennae swords
• Khetri zone (Rajasthan): source of copper celts
• Chalcolithic phase ended: mostly by 1000 BC; some areas till 800 BC or later
• Mother goddess worship + bull cult = chalcolithic religion
• Social inequality evidence: Chandoli, Nevasa, Kayatha burials