Copper Hoard Culture

Selected hoard artefacts from 1-2 South Haryana, 3-4 Uttar Pradesh, 5 Madhya Pradesh, 6-8 South Bihar-North Orissa-Bengalen.

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

Four regional find-groups are identifiable: South Haryana/North Rajasthan, the Ganges/Jamuna plain, Chota Nagpur und Madhya Pradesh, with their characteristic find-types.

Characteristic hoard finds from South Haryana/North Rajasthan include flat axes, harpoons, double axes, swords 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(Khetri), Bihar/West Bengal/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, 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, 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/