Chalcolithic age :Tools,Food,Houses,Religion and sites found

 The Chalcolithic Age

• The use of metal began towards the end of the Neolithic age and thus the Chalcolithic age. The first metal to be used was copper. Later, it was mixed with metals such as tin, zinc and lead to make new metal of alloy called bronze.
• The Chalcolithic man was fond of ornaments and decoration. The women wore ornaments of shell and bone. Man had invented the technique of spinning and weaving cloth.
• There were several cultures that were using stone implements along with the copper implements. Such cultures are called Chalcolithic cultures.
• As per scientific analysis, Chalcolithic cultures were not older than 1800 BC. 
• They seem to have continued in some areas till 1000 BC and in other areas till 800 BC.

The Early Settlers

• The Chalcolithic communities founded the first villages in India (not in Indian sub-continent) and cultivated barley, wheat, lentil in Western India and rice in Southern and Eastern India.
• Except for the alluvial plains, Chalcolithic cultures have been discovered almost all over the country,
• Their earliest settlements appear in Malwa and Central India in Kayatha and Eran. Settlements in Western Maharashtra appeared later and settlements in West Bengal were the last to emerge.
• In Western Madhya Pradesh sites at Eran, Kayatha and Navdatoli on Narmada have been discovered. The sites in Western Maharashtra are at Jorwe, Nevasa and Daimabad in Ahmednagar district; Chandoli, Inamgaon and Songaon in Pune district and at Nasik.
• In Eastern India, Chirand, Pandu Rajar Dhibi in Burdwan district and Mahisdal in Midnapore district in West Bengal are important Chalcolithic sites. Some Chalcolithic sites have also been found in Allahabad region.
• The settlements at Kayatha and Eran in Madhya Pradesh and at Inamgaon in Western Maharashtra were fortified. On the other hand, the remains of structures in Chirand and Pandu Rajar Dhibi in Eastern India were poor in nature, giving indications of sinkholes.

Tools of Chalcolithic period

• The people of Chalcolithic cultures used small tools and weapons made of stone. In certain settlements, copper implements are found in good numbers. At Ahar, stone tools are completely absent. In Gilund, copper blade industry has been found.
• The Chalcolithic people used different types of pottery, one of which is called Black and Red. It was wheel made and occasionally painted with white linear designs. However, people of different cultures used different types of pottery and implements.

Known Animals

• The people living in South-Eastern Rajasthan, Western Madhya Pradesh and Western Maharashtra domesticated animals and cultivated foodgrains. They domesticated cow, sheep, goat, pig, buffalo and hunted deer.
• Remains of camel have also been found. It is not clear whether, they were acquainted with the horse. Some animal remains are identified either to the horse or donkey or wild ass.

Food of Chalcolithic period

• They used to cultivate wheat, rice, bajra, lentil, green gram, black gram and grass pea. All these food grains have been found at Navadatoli in Maharashtra. In addition, ber, linseed, ragi and cotton were also grown.
• They also ate non-vegetarian food. In Eastern India, fish hooks and remains of rice have been found, which suggests that the people in Eastern region lived on fish and rice.

Houses in chalcolithic age

• The Chalcolithic people were not acquainted with burnt bricks. Occasionally, their houses were made up of mud bricks, but mostly these were constructed with wattle and daub and seem to have been thatched houses.
• In Inamgaon, in earlier phase, large mud houses with ovens and circular pit houses have been discovered. In the later phase, discovery of house with five rooms suggest that families were large.
• Settlements became stable and widespread in this phase. This is termed as Jorwe culture because of its type-site is provided by Jorwe, a village situated near Pravara River. Every Jorwe village was a nucleated settlement with houses of different size, circular or rectangular in shape.

Social Inequalities in chalcolithic period

• In this phase, we also find the beginning of social inequalities. It is evidenced from the material/ remains found in the graves. In the graves at Chandoli and Nevasa in Western Maharashtra some children were buried along with copper-bead necklaces around their neck while other children had grave goods consisting only of pots.
• The Chalcolithic economy was a village economy. These people had no urban civilisation.
• Some settlements such as Inamgaon, Eran, Kayatha were fortified and surrounded by a moat.

Art and Crafts in Chalcolithic age

• A little is known about their art and crafts. They knew the art of copper smelting. They were expert coppersmiths and also good workers in stone as a large number of microliths have been found. They knew the art of spinning and weaving. Spindle whorls have been discovered in Malwa and cotton and silk have been found in Maharashtra.

Burial Practices

• Unlike Harappans, they did not use separate cemeteries. They had different burial practices. In Maharashtra, people used to bury their dead in urns under the floor of their house in the North-to-South position, but in the South India in the East-West position.
• Almost complete or extended burial obtained in Maharashtra, but post-extraction or fractional burial prevailed in West Bengal.

Religion in Chalcolithic age

•Terracotta figures of women found in Inamgaon suggest that the Chalcolithic people prayed the Mother Goddess. In Malwa and Rajasthan stylised bull terracotta show that, the bull served as a religious cult.

Important Chalcolithic Cultures in India

Chalcolithic Culture , Sites of Chalcolithic Culture and their Features:

Ahara Culture

Site-Ahara (Rajasthan), Balathal, Gilund etc.

Feature-The distinctive feature is black and red ware, decorated with the white designs.

Kayatha Culture (2000-1800 BC)

Site-Near river in Chambal and its tributaries.

Feature-The sturdy red slipped ware with chocolate, colour designs is main feature.

Malwa Culture (1700-1200 BC)

Site-Narmada and its tributaries in Gujarat.

Feature-

• One of the largest Chalcolithic settlements.

• The Malwa ware is slightly coarse in fabric, but has a thick buff surface over which designs were made either in red or black.

Svalda Culture (2300-2000BC)

Site-Dhulia district of Maharashtra.

Feature-Known for its non-Harappan culture

Prabhas and Rangpur Culture(1700-1400 BC)

Site-Prabhas and Rangpur, Gujarat

Feature-Both of them are derived from the Harappa culture. The polished red ware is the hall mark of this culture.

Importance of Chalcolithic Cultures:

• Except for alluvial plains and the thickly forested areas, traces of Chalcolithic cultures have been found almost all over the country.
• They used microliths and other stone tools supplemented by a little use of copper tools. It seems that most of them knew, the art of copper smelting.
• Almost all Chalcolithic communities used black and red wheel-turned pots. They were, the first to use painted pottery. Their pots were meant for cooking, eating and storing. They used the lota, but there is no trace of the thali.
• In South India, the Neolithic phase imperceptibly faded into the stone-copper phase and so, these cultures are called Neolithic-Chalcolithic.
• In other parts, especially in Western Maharashtra and Rajasthan, the Chalcolithic people seems to have been colonisers
• The Chalcolithic communities founded the first villages in India and cultivated far more cereals than is known in case of the Neolithic communities.
• The burial practices were different in Maharashtra the dead body was placed in the North-South position, but in South India, towards East-West position. Almost complete or extended burial obtained in Maharashtra, but post-extraction or fractional burial prevailed in West Bengal.

Limitations in Chalcolithic Cultures

• In spite of a food-producing economy, the rate of Infant Mortality was very high. It is evident from the large number of children graves in Western Maharashtra.
• Though the copper metal was known but the Chalcolithic culture was a rural culture since, as a metal copper has its limitations and its supply was also limited.
• Further, people did not know the art of mixing copper with Tin and thus, forging much stronger and useful metal called Bronze. It was the bronze tools, which facilitated the rise of earliest civilisations.
• They also did not know the art of writing nor did they live in cities.
• Although, the Chalcolithic cultures came much later than the Indus Valley Civilisation, they did not derive any substantial benefit from the advance technological knowledge of the Indus people.