Chalcolithic South Asia: Aspects of Craft and Technology (original) (raw)
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Indian Chalcolithic Culture: Aspects of Craft and Technology
Technology forms an important aspect of any culture as it is a gauge for assessing economic and social developments during the various phases of history. The rate of technological change until the Chalcolithic phase was slow. However, around 6500 years ago during the Chalcolithic period, a momentous cultural transition began, generating new needs and resources and led to high level of technological development. This paper is a review of both pyro and non‐pyro technologies as is evidenced from different chalcolithic sites throughout India which could help us in reconstructing the scientific knowledge and their practical application by Chalcolithic Cultures.
Study of Chalcolithic Ceramics in India: Approaches & Issues
Archaeology in India—Individuals, Ideas and Institutions in G. Sengupta and K. Gangopadhyay (eds.) , New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 2009, pp.123-60.), 2009
This paper highlights the changing perceptions and interpretations of Chalcolithic ceramics in Indian Archaeology in relation to the theoretical feedback received from outside as well as introduction of scientific methodologies. It also underscores contribution of individual scholars and collective efforts, seminars and current trends in pottery study in India. The center-stage that the ceramic has taken in the study of ancient Indian cultures, discussion is also made on some of the long-standing issues such as traditional or more specifically the practice of individual approaches to the nomenclature and classification of ceramics versus scientific methods.
A Reappraisal of the Chalcolithic of Central and Deccan India
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology, 2023
The Chalcolithic Period of India, first identified at the site of Jorwe in the 1950s, is an important cultural period in the history of India’s civilizational development, especially for the Central, Deccan, Southern, and Eastern regions of the subcontinent. The period ranges from the 3 millennium BCE to the mid-1 millennium BCE and covers the origin, development, and decline phases of the Chalcolithic cultures in these regions. While traditionally referred to as two distinct groups, the “Central” Indian and “Deccan” Chalcolithic cultures represent a cultural continuum across the regions of southeast Rajasthan or Mewar, Central India or Malwa, and the Deccan. The archaeological sites are found along the river valleys, and some of the typological sites include Ahar, Balathal, and Gilund in Mewar; Kayatha, Eran, Navdatoli in Malwa; and Savalda, Inamgaon, and Daimabad in the Deccan region. The Central Indian and Deccan Chalcolithic cultures form a cultural community defined by the Black-on-Red Ware (B- on-RW) and the Black-and-Red Ware (B&RW) ceramic types, along with their associated pottery types that have helped frame the chronology and cultural sequence of origin, development, and decline. Also referred to as the early farming communities, they are defined by a sedentary lifestyle with permanent and semi-permanent structures, an agropastoral economy with the production of goods for exchange and commerce, along with variations in religious practices that include fire worship, bull worship, and distinctive burial customs, among others as identified by the excavators. Based on stratigraphic sequence, stylistic similarities, and material culture, five distinct cultural phases have been identified in Central India and the Deccan—namely, the Ahar, Kayatha, and Savalda followed by the Malwa and Jorwe. The origin of these cultures, while not distinctively clear, has been attributed to various native and foreign elements including the Mesolithic and Neolithic cultures of the region, contemporary Pre-Early-Mature-and-Late Harappan cultures, and West Asian influence, among others. The Chalcolithic period in the history of the Indian subcontinent provides a bridge between Prehistory and Early History while raising several relevant questions with regard to its identity in terms of origin and influence, and its placement within the general frame of existing archaeological chronology between the Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Iron Age. Interaction and exchange networks within cultures such as the Southern Neolithic and Harappans— including Early, Mature, and Late periods of Haryana, Gujarat, and north Rajasthan, which contribute to the Chalcolithic period’s rich material assemblage—need to be seen from a fresh perspective. In addition, it is important to reexamine the excavated material from these sites, and possibly undertake fresh excavations in light of new information from sites in southeast Rajasthan, to establish the cultural continuum that these Chalcolithic cultures represent within the chronology of cultural development of the subcontinent.
Prehistoric Tools from Misimagre, Northeast India: A Typo-Technological Study
Anthropology and Ethnology Open Access Journal, 2019
The northeastern region of India houses many archaeological sites-much of them going back to prehistory. One of the well-known regions is the Garo Hills from where over 35-40 sites have been reported since 1960s. These sites are predominantly Neolithic in nature (on the basis of tool typology), with a few pre-Neolithic ones (which have been highly debated). This paper deals with the lithics found in one site, Misimagre, in the Rongram-Ganol valley where over 240+ tools were recovered from exploration, and 6900+ artifacts collected from a 1x1 test pit. The paper details the type of tools recovered and makes an attempt to analyse the techniques involved in making them. What was found interesting was the coming together of two different early Holocene traditions at Misimagre-a microlithic tradition and a Hoabinhian tradition at the same location. The former is a pan-Indian / world phenomenon while the latter is a typical Southeast Asian phenomenon.
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2021
The invention of rotational devices contributed to a range of developments in craft production technology, perhaps most visibly in the various forms of potter's wheels. These technological innovations, and the adoption or non-adoption of those innovations, carry economic and social implications, which are significant for understanding past human behaviour. There has been debate around the introduction and use of the potter's wheel in South Asia's Indus Civilisation for almost a century, and opinions remain divided. This paper considers the emerging ceramic traditions identified at two Indus settlements in modern Haryana, northwest India. It presents evidence demonstrating that Indus Civilisation potters utilised multiple forming techniques for producing ceramic vessels and explores the evidence for the use of rotational gestures and rotational devices in regional ceramic production industries. Two dominant technological traditions are outlined, along with the implications of this discovery and future research opportunities.
BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers, 2007
During the last few years, Indian archaeologists have concentrated their efforts on the investigation of sites of the 3rd to 2nd millennia B.C. in the Mewar region of western India. Unfortunately, most of the excavations have been focused on understanding the cultural sequence, settlement patterns, architecture, and pottery at the sites and have neglected the study of such important artifact categories as beads. As no final reports have been published and the excavations have been carried out by different agencies, reconstructing the bead culture of this area is very difficult. We know quite a bit about the beads of the urban Harappans but know practically nothing about those used by the contemporary rural Chalcolithic people. This paper discusses the beads recovered from a number of Chalcolithic sites, with emphasis on the oldest village in India-Balathal.
International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition
This article outlines the major cultural periods that have been archaeologically documented in South Asia. Beginning with the Paleolithic and Mesolithic eras, the sequence of cultures from the Neolithic/Chalcolithic, Iron Age, Early Historic, and Medieval periods is presented, with some attempt to characterize the significant regional variation that is seen throughout time.
2018
This paper will briefly review the archaeological record of some of the aspects of the craft production in the Indus Tradition from the point of technology, as reflected in manufacturing cycles, possible workshops / activity areas, stock piling and dumping areas so far identified in the available archaeological record of Gujarat. The data presented here is mostly derived from three recently excavated Indus sites by the Department of Archeology and Ancient History, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in combination with the data obtained through ethnoarchaeological studies carried on the stone bead making at Khambhat, Gujarat by Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, Massimo Vidale and myself. With the adaption of rigorous excavations with emphasis on the recovery methods along with ethnoarchaeological studies a lot of fresh useful information regarding the various Indus crafts is beginning to get revealed. The study of the crafts and especially Indus Civilization crafts is growing field of investigation, though some South Asian archeologists still prefer to them as 'miscellaneous small finds'. This fresh data thus obtained is the highlights of this paper.
Exploring Ceramic Variability in Iron Age South India: Social and Political Implications
Along with the emergence of iron technologies and new forms of mortuary treatment, the South Indian Iron Age is also marked by the appearance of new and widespread ceramic wares, technologies, and vessel forms. Elegant and finely made black and red wares, polished black wares and polished red wares largely replace the simple plain wares of the South Indian Neolithic; and at least some portion of vessels are now produced using wheel-forming technologies. In addition, the localized stylistic traditions of the Neolithic are supplanted by region-wide forms, particularly in finely made serving bowls, which are recovered in both settlement and ritual contexts. In this paper, I report on ongoing analyses of ceramics from excavations at the Iron Age settlement and mortuary site of Kadebakele, located in northern Karnataka (co-directed by the Karnataka Department of Archaeology and Museum, Kathleen D. Morrison, and Carla M. Sinopoli). I review the nature and distributions of ceramic forms recovered in 9th-3rd century BCE levels at Kadebakele, and draw inferences to large patterns in ceramics forms and their role in diverse ritual and consumption activities across peninsular India during a period of dramatic sociopolitical change.