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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[OCTOBER, 1905.
proved by familiar passages in Genesis and archæological evidence from Spain and the Mediterranean region. In Balûchistân a silver bracelet, alloyed with lead, was found in company with copper arrow-heads, the admixture of lead being probably ascribable to the fact that silver is commonly extracted from galena or lead sulphide ore. The galena at Jungumrazpillay' in the Karnûl District, Madras, is said to be peculiarly rich in silver. In the north of India the Kulu District contains a large area in which ores yielding silver abound, and the metal can be mined in no less than twenty districts of British India. The ancient inhabitants of the country, therefore, may have obtained it in very early ages, even if they trusted to the local supply; but, as a matter of fact, India has never produced any considerable amount of silver, and has usually been content to import it in enormous quantities. Whether the Gungeria plates were made from indigenous or imported silver, I do not see any reason why they should not be of high antiquity. The Gungeria deposit, although baried in a spot to the south of the Narbada, is clearly associated by reason of its contents, with Northern India, and not with the South. I think it to be extremely probable that the knowledge of both silver and iron reached the Peninsula at a date much later than it reached the North, which was always open to communications by land with the primeval civilization of Babylonia and Assyria.
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The variety of type in the Indian copper implements, as already observed, indicates a development which must have extended over a long time. I am disposed to think that the primitive celts of Northern India, which are obviously copies of neolithic patterns, may be as old as 2000 B. C. The harpoon- or spear-heads associated with them must be of the same age. They seem to be imitations of bone or horn forms, and should be compared with the drawings in the caves of the Kaimûr hills which I published some years ago.13 The occurrence of a bar-celt in the Bijnor District, associated with flat celts and barbed harpoon-heads, indicates that the bar-celt, which, like the harpoon-heads, is a copper form peculiar to India, must also date from very remote antiquity. The general facies of the Gungeris deposit, although that deposit includes bar-celts and flat celts of very primitive form, is somewhat less ancient than that of the finds from Northern India, but it is impossible to express the difference, if it be real, in terms of years; and the guess hazarded above as to the possible date of the northern examples has really little foundation, being largely based upon the dates assumed for Ireland. But all the Indian copper implements are certainly extremely old, and must be dated previous to 1000 B. C. Probably they are much earlier.
PART II.
Prehistoric Bronze Implements.
The prehistoric Indian implements, that is to say, either tools or weapons, made of such an alloy of copper and tin as may be designated with propriety by the name of bronze, number only six, so far as I can ascertain. These six specimens comprise one flat celt, one so-called 'sword,' one spear-head, and three harpoon-heads, which I now proceed to discuss in detail, with the special purpose of determining whether or not the existence of these six implements is sufficient to prove the deliberate use of bronze, as distinguished from copper, during prehistoric times in India.
The solitary bronze flat celt, discovered at Jabalpur (Jubbulpore: N. lat. 23° 10′; E. long. 80° 1′) in the year 1869, unfortunately was never figured and was soon lost. But it was analysed and proved to be composed of copper 86-7, and tin 18.8, per cent. It was described as being furnished "with a long curved and sharp edge, gradually attenuating behind into a kind of straight handle, which had the edges flattened so as to be easily held in the hand."
It was,
12 Balfour, Cyclopædia, s. v. Silver.
18 Cave Drawings in the Kaimur Range, North-West Provinces,' by John Cockburn, communicated by Vincent A, Smith (J. R. 4. S. 1889, p. 89, with a plate). Compare also the harpoon-heads from La Madelaine and Kent's Cavern, Torquay, made of reindeer horn. (Evans, Ancient Stone Implements, 2nd ed. p. 505, fig. 408.)
14 Brief announcement, without details, in Proc. A. 8. B. 1869, p. 60.
15 Letter of General Strachey, published by Sir Walter Elliot in Proc. Soc. Ant. Scotland, 1874, p. 691.
