Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 35
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

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Page 204
________________ 186 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [JULY, 1906. " made by myself, mostly in the years 1880 to 1881, - that is [to say], the best, finest, and most " numerous of them in caves and under rook-shelters in the Vindhya Hills, " in Bagholkhand, to the south of the Mirzapur District, and in the northerly parts of “ Biwa. "But some fow also I obtained in parts of the Kaimur range further south, and "following that I found other specimens of similar types, but of somewhat ruder and coarser "workmanship, on low ground in Bundelkhand, to the west of the former locality; where, I may "mention, I first pointed them out to an acquaintance (probably, Mr. F. Cockburn) who happened "to be there collecting the larger and more bulky implements of the more recent neolithic types, - and "since then, other persons have made known their finds of similar small implements to which this led. “I have, it seems, simply been myself too tardy in bringing my prior discoveries into public notice. • The caves, rock-hollows, and rock-shelters in which these peculiar small implements were “ specially found by myself in the greatest numbers and in the greatest perfection are, as I said, "situated in the Vindhya range, in Baghệlkhand. The rock in which these hollows occur is "an induratod reddish-brown sandstone, belonging to the well-known Vindhyan series “of the Indian geological system. These caves, hollows, and rock-shelters are, of course, of natural "formation. They have all the appearance of having been hollowed out by the agency of water. " Whenever any earth or soil or fine sandy gra vel was left on the floors of any of the " caves or rock-shelters, there one was sure to find numbers of small implements and flakes " formed of agate, ohert, and jasper. Some few lay exposed here and there on the surface, but "the majority were found in the soil, by digging for them. The depth of soil left in such "caves and under such rock-shelters varied from a minimum of about six inches to one foot and a half "and two feet up to a maximum of from two feet and a balf to three feet; though in some of the " deeper hollows of the uneven floors it might even be more, or as much as four feet. But " allowance must always be made for the constant washing-away of the surface-soil by water during " the heavy rains of the Indian rainy season, which may either drift into or percolate through such "caves. But this, at the same time, often helps to bring these stone implements to the surface; there "being in this case no accumulation, but a constant denudation of the soil. "At the very bottom, or in the lowest stratum of the soil in the floors of such caves in which " the soil was of any considerable depth, the implements were always found to be of an older "and more archaic type than the rest. At a medium depth, undisturbed layers of embers and "charcoal (that is, of hearths) were frequently found, showing that such caves had been occupied " by the same human beings who manufactured the stone implements, and now and then it might even be found that a few of the flakes, cores, and small implements had evidently, from their appearance, "been affected by fire. > Mr. Carlleyle, so far as I on ascertain, never pnblished anything on this subject. The notes supplied by the Rev. Mr. Gatty are now published for the first time, I believe, and I do not know when they were written. The Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for February 1883 (p. 49) contains the following mention of a paper, as if it had been received by the Society : - "Notes on lately discovered sepulchral mounde, carna, caves, care paintings, and stone implements. By A. C. Carlleyle, First Assistant, Archeological Survey of India. In this paper Mr. Carlleyle enumerates all discoveries of interest lately made by him in the district of Mirzapur, and then gives a general account of his diroureries in Beghelkband, Bundelkband, and other places during the last nine years. This paper will be published in the Journal, Pt. I., 1883." But, unfortunately, for some reason not now ascertainable, the valuable communication so described was never printed or mentioned again. Mr. Car observed," imparted no information on either the nature or the localities of his discoveries, and his knowledge has died with him" (J.R. 4, 8., 1899, p. 89). Mr. Carlleyle's daughter was in possession in the year 1902 of certain papers of her father describing the care paintings or drawings, but they have not been brought to light. M. Seidler, who had charge of Mr. Carlleyle's collections, is now dead.

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