Copper Hoard Culture - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Copper Hoards describe find-complexes which occur in the northern part of India. These occur mostly in hoards large and small and are believed to date to the 2nd millennium BC, although very few derive from controlled and dateable excavation contexts. A fragment of an anthropomorph came to light in controlled excavations at Lothal, Dist. Ahmedabad and a second one at Saipai Lichchwai, Tehsil Etawah, Dist. Etawah, U.P. The doab hoards are associated with the so-called Ochre Coloured Pottery (OCP). As early as the 19th century, stray hoard objects became known and established themselves as an important find group in the two-river land of northern India. The dating is unclear. These hoard artefacts are a main manifestation of the archaeology of India during the metals age. More hoard finds bear the provenance Rewari

Rewari

Rewari is a city and a municipal council in Rewari district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is located in south-west Haryana around from Delhi and from Gurgaon.- Etymology :...

than any other place in India. These are deposited in the Kanya Gurukul museum in Narela

Narela

Narela sub-city is a tehsil, located in the North West Delhi district of NCT of Delhi, and forms the border of the Delhi state with Haryana. Situated just off the Grand Trunk Road, its location made it an important market town for the surrounding areas, during 19th century, which it still retains...

/Haryana

Haryana

Haryana is a state in India. Historically, it has been a part of the Kuru region in North India. The name Haryana is found mentioned in the 12th century AD by the apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar . It is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south...

.

Four regional find-groups are identifiable: South Haryana

Haryana

/North Rajasthan

Rajasthan

Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...

, the Ganges/Jamuna plain, Chota Nagpur

Chota Nagpur

Chota Nagpur may refer to*Chota Nagpur Plateau*Chhotanagpur*Chota Nagpur Division, a division of British India *Chota Nagpur States, a collection of princely states of British India...

und Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....

, with their characteristic find-types.

Characteristic hoard finds from South Haryana/North Rajasthan include flat axes, harpoons, double axes, sword

Sword

A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...

s with so-called antenna grips and others. In the Ganges-Jumna Doab related types occur. Those from Chota Nagpur differ entirely fropm these. They include finely worked pieces, but mostly look at first like axe-heads but are probably ingots.

Since most show no clear signs of antique use-wear and often are over-sized, they appear to be dedicatory and not use-implements. If those of the Chota Nagpur group are simply ingots, the reason for the axe-like form requires explanation.

The copper ore derives from different ore ranges in Rajasthan

Rajasthan

(Khetri), Bihar

Bihar

Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....

/West Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

/Orissa (especially Singhbhum) as well as Madhya Pradesh (Malanjkhand).

Hoard objects contain from 71-99% copper. A few contain up to 32.9% iron. Artefacts from Haryana show the greatest chemical variation. Those from Ghangharia are chemically the most homogeneous. Such variations are considered to be unintentional.

Sources

Paul Yule
Paul Yule
Paul Harris Yule is a photographer and film maker.Born in South Africa his family emigrated to England when he was 8 years old. After studying at Aldenham School and Oxford University he became an acclaimed photojournalist and documentary film maker, founding Berwick Universal Pictures in London in...

, The Bronze Age Metalwork of India, Prähistorische Bronzefunde XX,8 (München 1985), ISBN 3-406-30440-0

http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/savifadok/volltexte/2011/1895/

P. Yule/A. Hauptmann/M. Hughes, The Copper Hoards of the Indian Subcontinent: Preliminaries for an Interpretation, Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz 36, 1989 [1992] 193-275, ISSN 0076-2741

http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/savifadok/volltexte/2009/509/

Paul Yule
Paul Yule
Paul Harris Yule is a photographer and film maker.Born in South Africa his family emigrated to England when he was 8 years old. After studying at Aldenham School and Oxford University he became an acclaimed photojournalist and documentary film maker, founding Berwick Universal Pictures in London in...

, Addenda to "The Copper Hoards of the Indian Subcontinent: Preliminaries for an Interpretation", Man and Environment 26.2, 2002, 117–120,

http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/savifadok/volltexte/2009/510/

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