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MAY, 1918]
ON A PECULIAR POLISHED HAMMERSTONE
ON A PECULIAR POLISHED HAMMERSTONE FROM SINGHBHUM, CHOTA NAGPUR, INDIA.
135
BY H. C. DAS-GUPTA, M.A., F.G.S.; CALCUTTA.
THE implement to be described here is included among a number of stone implements presented to the Geological Department of the Presidency College, Calcutta, by Mr. Subodha Krishna Biswas, M.Sc., who came across them in the course of his professional work as a geologist in the district of Singhbhum. According to Mr. Biswas the specimens were obtained from two different localities: one of them, Nadup or Ladup, is about 5 miles south of Kalimati Railway Station (Lat. 22°46', Long. 86°17′) and the other is about a mile and a half east of the workings of the Cape Copper Company at Matigara (Lat. 22°38', Long. 86° 26'). Both these localities are in Dhalbhum and are mostly inhabited by the Kols and the Santhals, while the implements were all found among the débris at the mouths of ancient copper mines. The rocks which were utilised in preparing the specimens are hornblende-schist, a rock which is very common in the area, though according to Mr. Biswas in the exact localities where the specimens were obtained the strata are phyllitic and quartzitic showing that the rocks used for the manufacture of the implements must have been brought there by persons, the remnants of whose handicraft they are.
A number of implements from Chota Nagpur has been described by a number of workers including the late Dr. Wood-Mason and the Rev. P. O. Bodding. But the specimen under notice is of an unusual type and accordingly a short description of it is desirable.
The implement, as the accompanying Plate I. shows, is broken and has a thickened head followed by a portion which is flat. A specimen somewhat similar to this has been described by Mr. Rivett-Carnac 3 from Banda in the United Provinces, and there is a plaster cast of it exhibited in the Archæological collections of the Indian Museum, Calcutta. These two specimens, however, differ from each other markedly both in the shape of th head and of the remaining portion-the latter being quite cylindrical in the Banda specimen while, as already mentioned, it is quite flat in the specimen from Singhbhum. There is also a marked difference in the nature of the head which in the Banda specimen has a portion about one-fifth-protruding beyond the cylindrical part while no such protuberance is present in the Singhbhum specimen. In the latter, however, the boundary between the head and the flat portion is very marked, though it is not equally well pronounced on both faces, while any such marked boundary is altogether wanting in the Banda hammer. The head shows evidence of wear resulting in three well-marked concavities. The flat portion is only partially present and there is no indication regarding its real length.
It is rather difficult to say definitely anything about the use to which this peculiar implement was put. But in consideration of the fact that it was found among the débris at the mouth of old pits dug for copper-ores, it may be supposed that it was used as a hammer to break the cupriferous rocks-the precise way in which the hammer was used being, however, doubtful-e.g., whether it was a double-headed hammer with a handle attached to it, or a single-headed hammer, the flat part preserved being used as a handle. The sharp boundary between the flat part and the head would lead one to suspect that it was double-headed, but then the somewhat large size of the flat part is rather difficult to account for; while, if the flat part is supposed to be used as a handle, it may be argued
1 Jour. As. Soc Beng., Vol. LVII. 1888, pp. 387-396.
2 Ibid, Vol. LXX, 1901, Part III, pp. 17-22; and Vol. LXXIII, Part III, pp. 27-31. Ibid, Vol. LII., 1883, Part I, p. 228.
