the conventional name for a Chalcolithic archaeological culture in eastern India. It is also known as the culture of copper hoards and ocher-colored pottery because of the ocher-colored pottery found in many settlements. Copper weapons belonging to the culture were discovered in the late 19th century, but scientific excavations of the various remains were conducted only in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The principal copper objects include shouldered celts, elongated gouges, harpoons, antenna swords, and anthropomorphic figurines. The population engaged in farming, as well as in hunting and fishing.
There is some controversy regarding the creators of the Copper Hoard culture. Some scholars link the culture with the indigenous population, while others connect it with the Aryan tribes that supplanted it. Still other investigators believe that it was created by the ancestors of the Munda peoples. Excavations in Hastinapura have established that the last stages of the Copper Hoard culture date from the 12th and 11th centuries B.C.