By Sharat Pradhan, IANS
Lucknow : A treasure trove of copper artefacts discovered by an Uttar Pradesh villager while tilling his land has been found to be at least 4,000 years old.
The discovery was made in Udaipurwa village of Auraiya district in central Uttar Pradesh last month. The farmer who found the artefacts tried to hide them but his neighbours found out and told the police. The district administration informed the state archaeology department, which rushed a team to the site, about 250 km from here.
“The recovery of a horde of copper artefacts was definitely big news for us. Preliminary studies found the 50 odd relics to be at least 4,000 years old,” state archaeology director Rakesh Tiwari told IANS.
“We have brought these priceless copper artefacts to the state headquarters here and propose to put them on display at our museum,” Tiwari added.
The artefacts include a barbed spearhead, an anthropomorphic figure, flat-shouldered axes, chisels, rings and some broken articles.
Tiwari has not ruled out the possibility of recovering more such artefacts in the area. “We have submitted a proposal to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to undertake large scale excavation in the area, where we hope to find more articles of archaeological significance.”
Around 100 copper-age treasure troves have been discovered during excavations in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan since 1822, Tiwari added.