Introduction to Chalcolithic Cultures
After the decline of the Harappan civilization around the second millennium BCE, various rural cultures emerged across India beyond the Indus region. These societies relied on animal husbandry and agriculture, using stone tools alongside copper implements. That’s why historians call them “Chalcolithic pastoral-agricultural cultures.” These settlements mainly appeared in southeastern Rajasthan, western Madhya Pradesh, western Maharashtra, and southern India. Experts identify them through their unique pottery styles. Recent research sheds light on their trade networks, environmental impacts, and social structures, helping us understand their growth and eventual decline.
Major Chalcolithic Cultures
The key Chalcolithic cultures include four primary ones: Ahar (Banas) culture, Kayatha culture, Malwa culture, and Jorwe culture. Other notable ones are Savalda, Prabhas Patan, and Rangpur. Here’s a breakdown:
- Ahar (Banas) Culture: Thrived in southeastern Rajasthan from around 2100 BCE to 1500 BCE.
- Kayatha Culture:Spread across central India in the Narmada, Tapi, and Mahi valleys from about 2000 BCE to 1800 BCE.
- Malwa Culture: Active in Madhya Pradesh’s Malwa region from roughly 1900 BCE to 1400 BCE.
- Jorwe Culture: xtended in Maharashtra from approximately 1400 BCE to 700 BCE.
- Other Cultures: Savalda (around 2300-2000 BCE), Prabhas Patan (about 2000-1400 BCE), and Rangpur (roughly 1500-1200 BCE) also stand out during this era.
Recent studies reveal evidence of trade and cultural exchanges among these groups, especially in copper tools and pottery. Environmental shifts, like increasing aridity, likely played a major role in their downfall.
Southeastern Rajasthan: Ahar (Banas) Culture
In southeastern Rajasthan’s Banas River valley, excavations at sites like Ahar (Udaipur), Gilund (Chittorgarh), and Balathal (Udaipur) uncover the Chalcolithic lifestyle. Known as the Ahar or Banas culture, these large settlements featured houses built from mud plaster and stones. Foundations used stones, with walls reinforced by bamboo screens or stone slabs. Roofs sloped, and evidence from Gilund shows baked bricks. Floors combined black soil and yellow silt, sometimes layered with river gravel. At Ahar, a 33-foot-10-inch-long house divided by a mud wall emerged. Gilund yielded storage pits and multi-mouthed hearths.
People in this culture focused on farming and herding. They grew wheat, barley, rice, chickpeas, green gram, and possibly millets, while raising cattle, buffaloes, goats, sheep, and pigs. Bones of fish, turtles, chickens, and deer indicate hunting and fishing. Pottery featured black and red wares with white linear and dotted designs. Locals crafted copper tools at home, including flat axes, bangles, rings, kohl sticks, and knives. Finds from Ganeshwar (near Ahar) suggest copper exports to contemporary cultures in Madhya Pradesh and the Deccan. Radiocarbon dates place this culture from 2100 BCE to 1200 BCE. Modern research points to climate change and water scarcity in river valleys as reasons for its disappearance.
Malwa Region: Kayatha and Malwa Cultures
Western Madhya Pradesh’s Malwa area, with sites like Kayatha, Eran, Navdatoli, and Maheshwar, provides evidence of Chalcolithic life. Kayatha revealed remnants of three cultures: Kayatha (2200-2000 BCE), Ahar (2100-1500 BCE), and Malwa (1600-1300 BCE).
Kayatha culture included wheel-made pottery, copper axes, bangles, microliths, and beads of carnelian, agate, and steatite. Ahar influences highlight cultural exchanges from southeastern Rajasthan. Malwa culture’s prime evidence comes from Navdatoli, excavated by H.D. Sankalia. This site, India’s largest Chalcolithic village, yielded remains of two wheat types, flax, lentils, black gram, green gram, green peas, and grass peas. Malwa pottery shines with geometric designs in black and red. New studies show the Malwa region as a trade hub, exporting copper tools elsewhere.
Maharashtra Region: Jorwe Culture
Western Maharashtra’s sites like Jorwe, Nevasa, Daimabad, Songaon, and Inamgaon reveal Chalcolithic remains. Daimabad’s cultural layers show early Harappan influences, followed by Ahar and Malwa, with the fourth layer as Jorwe culture (1400-700 BCE)—Maharashtra’s signature Chalcolithic phase. Jorwe pottery is famous for black geometric patterns on red bases and spouted vessels. Copper tools include bangles, beads, blades, chisels, rods, axes, and small pots. Daimabad’s four copper sheets (chariot, rhinoceros, elephant, and bull) showcase craftsmanship.
Jorwe people farmed barley, wheat, lentils, horse gram, peas, and rice. Plum stones and jute evidence appear too. Domesticated animals included cows, oxen, buffaloes, goats, sheep, pigs, and horses. Inamgaon yielded clay figurines of a mother goddess and bull, indicating religious practices. Recent research suggests early urbanization in Jorwe culture, especially at Daimabad and Inamgaon, with fortified settlements and trade centers.
South India
In Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu, Chalcolithic elements spread at sites like Brahmagiri, Maski, Piklihal, Utnur, Sanganakallu, Paiyampalli, Hemmige, Nagarjunakonda, and Kodekal. Radiocarbon dates span 2300 BCE to 900 BCE. Pottery varies with polished stone tools dominant. Tekkalakota’s gold pendant hints at gold use. Millets and chickpeas were key crops, with sheep and goat remains emphasizing herding. Modern studies indicate these cultures started as pastoral-dominated, evolving into agriculture-based economies.
Eastern India
Eastern India’s West Bengal districts like Birbhum, Bardhaman, Midnapore, and Bankura, plus Odisha, Bihar’s Chirand and Sonpur, and eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Khairadih and Nauhan, yield Chalcolithic evidence. Sites like Pandu Rajar Dhibi and Mahisdal show rice-based villages from 1500-700 BCE. Black-and-red ware defines the region. Recent studies reveal these cultures adapted to local environments, emphasizing rice cultivation.
Upper Ganga Valley and Ganga-Yamuna Doab
The Ochre-Colored Pottery (OCP) culture dominated the upper Ganga Valley and Ganga-Yamuna Doab, stretching from Saharanpur’s Mayapur to Etawah’s Saipai. Saipai produced a sword and fish spearhead. The “Ganga Valley Copper Hoards” include axes, fish spears, and antenna swords, dated 2000-1500 BCE. Atranjikhera yielded black-and-red ware, linking OCP and Painted Grey Ware cultures. New research shows these Chalcolithic societies relied on local resources post-Harappan decline, connected via trade networks.
Features of Chalcolithic Cultures
Painted Pottery
A hallmark is wheel-made painted pottery with geometric designs in black, red, and white. Kayatha featured red ware painted in brown or chocolate; Ahar had black-and-white motifs. Prabhas Patan and Rangpur used red on smooth surfaces. Fired at 500-700°C in kilns, this shows technological advancement. Recent research links pottery styles to regional trade and cultural exchanges.
Chalcolithic Tools
Stone blade and flake industries prevailed, using chalcedony, chert, jasper, and agate for parallel blades, serrated blades, knives, crescents, and triangles. Polished hand axes appeared in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Copper tools included flat axes, celts, arrowheads, spearheads, bangles, rings, and beads. Kayatha yielded 28 copper bangles. Spinning, weaving, and jewelry suggest advanced crafts. Studies highlight copper trade as a economic pillar.
Subsistence Economy
These cultures thrived in black-soil semi-arid zones, based on agriculture and herding. Crops included barley, wheat, rice, millets, lentils, chickpeas, peas, and black gram. Animals comprised cows, buffaloes, sheep, goats, pigs, and camels. Fishing and hunting supplemented diets. Sites like Ahar, Gilund, Navdatoli, and Daimabad served as trade hubs. Research indicates active regional and inter-regional commerce.
Settlements and Housing
Large villages emerged, with fortified ones at Balathal and Gilund. Houses were rectangular, square, or circular, made from mud plaster, bamboo, and thatch. Navdatoli had square and circular homes. Jorwe featured a five-room house; Nevasa a 45×20-foot structure. Pit dwellings and storage pits appeared. Recent studies reflect social organization and resource use.
Burial Practices
In Maharashtra, urn burials occurred under floors. South Indian skeletons faced east-west; Maharashtra north-south. Western India favored full burials, eastern partial. Jorwe adults had severed ankles. Inamgaon’s large urn (80×50 cm) held a seated male skeleton. Research ties practices to religious and social beliefs.
Religion and Beliefs
Bull and mother goddess worship was central. Inamgaon and Nevasa yielded headless female and bull figurines, possibly linked to Shakambhari (fertility goddess). Daimabad’s solid copper figures (elephant, bull) hold religious significance. Fire altars suggest fire worship. Studies show practices influenced by environmental and social needs.
Chalcolithic cultures blend local elements with trade and exchanges. They developed in the second millennium BCE and faded around the first millennium BCE, with Jorwe lasting to 700 BCE at some sites. Recent research blames rising aridity and climate change for their decline. These societies laid foundations for India’s second urbanization wave in the fourth-fifth centuries BCE.
