Grounded in Time: The Occurrence and Environmental Framework of Neolithic Celts in the Indian Subcontinent

Pranjal Dubey* and Parth R. Chauhan

Polished celts are one of the defining features of the Neolithic in the Indian subcontinent. Flaked, pecked and polished, these stone artefacts constitute a defining cultural marker of early agricultural societies spanning from Kashmir in the Himalayas to the semi-arid Deccan plateau and southern India, the humid forests of the north-east to the margins of the Indus plains, and the fertile alluvium of the river Ganga and its tributaries. Their non-occurrence across well-excavated contexts in western and central Indian sites remains poorly understood and warrants further investigation. Unlike other artefacts, the utility of the celt was largely associated with tree-felling, clearing of wooded landscapes, and agro-pastoral land use. Multiple studies have established that the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) intensified during the early to mid-Holocene, resulting in increased arboreal cover across regions and affecting fluvial systems. This aided in supplying raw material and creating ecosystems suitable for the production of such toolkits. The regional variation in celts throughout the Neolithic assemblages, both in form and the raw material used, mirrors the palaeoenvironment of each zone they occur in. This paper seeks to highlight that polished celts in India are not merely technological artefacts but also palaeoenvironmental indicators. Celt production and function are only intelligible against their climatic and ecological contexts, which are often mirrored in their regional distribution, morphology and raw material selection. This paper attempts to synthesise paleoenvironmental evidence from across the principal celt-bearing regions of India, drawing on published peer-reviewed studies.