Q. Consider the following statements on the late Harappan cultures:
1. The late Harappan cultures are primarily Chalcolithic in which tools of stone and copper are used.
II. They do not show metal objects requiring complicated casting.
III. The Chalcolithic people in the later Harappan phase lived in villages.
IV. In the late Harappan phase at Bhagwanpura in Haryana, burnt bricks were not found.
Which of the above statements are correct?
(1) I, II and IV
(2) I, II and III
(3) II, III and IV
(4) I, II, III and IV
Answer: 2
The Chalcolithic period marked the emergence of the use of metal along with stone tools. The first metal to be used was copper. The Chalcolithic culture in India ranged from 3000 BC to 900 BC, the Harappan period spanned between 3500 BC to 1500 BC. Hence, both Chalcolithic culture and Harappan Civilisation were contemporary to each other.
Post-urban Harappan cultures were primarily Chalcolithic in which tools of stone and copper were used. They did not have metal objects requiring complicated casting, although they had axes, chisels, knives, bangles, curved razors, fish-hooks, and spearheads.
The people were mostly rural and lived near hills and rivers. The Chalcolithic culture corresponds to the farming communities, namely Kayatha, Ahar or Banas, Malwa, and Jorwe. It was mainly found in South-Eastern Rajasthan, the Western part of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, and in South and East India.
Burnt bricks have not been found anywhere else except perhaps in the late Harappan phase at Bhagwanpura in Haryana.