16 P. NEOGI.
is therefore very likely that the copper implements discovered in
ancient India were not used by the Aryans themselves.
If these implements were not used by the Aryans, the other alternative becomes that they were used by the original inhabitants of Northern India, who passed from the Neolithic period to the iron age through an intermediate copper age before the conquest of Northern India by the Aryans who taught them the use of iron. Direct evidence in favour of this hypothesis is forthcoming.
Mr. Vincent A. Smith has dealt with the question of the probable date of the copper age in Northern India and concludes that all the Indian copper implements are certainly extremely old and must be dated previous to 1000 B. C. Probably they are much earlier "and that the primitive celts of Northern India, which are obviously copies of Neolithic patterns, may be as old as 2000 BC." He further writes '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 Europeon analogies are not always very safe guides in determining questions of age relating to ancient Indian history. European analogy would suggest a bronze age to have intervened between the stone and iron ages in India, whilst as a matter of fact there was no bronze age in India. If any guess regarding the probable date of the copper age is permissible, such hypothesis should be based mainly on internal evidence as the evolution of Indian civilisation took place in a different manner from Ireland. I would venture to put forward here my own views on the subject.
I would entirely agree with Mr. Vincent A. Smith in thinking that "in the greater part of Northern India a copper age intervened between the Neolithic period and the iron age." Two evidences on this subject are conclusive. Is the first place the wide area over which the finds of the copper implements have been distributed shows that the copper implements were used throughout the greater part of Northern India including certain parts of the Central Provinces, as the Gunjeria deposit by reason of its contents must be associated with Northern India. Secondly, this very large number of weapons including agricultural and domestic implements in the Gungeria deposit is a
