Table Of ContentMADRAS GOVERNMENT MUSEUM
THE -FOOTE COLLECTION
OF
INDIAN PREHISTORIC AND PROTOHISTORIC
ANTIQUITIES.
CATALOGUE RAISONNE
BY
ROBERT BRUCE FOOTE,
F.G.S .• F.R.A.I .. ~I.\. I.,
SUPERINTENDENT. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. RETIRED : LATE STATE GEOLOGIST IN BAI~O[)A
AND MYSORE STATES: HONORARY MEMBER OF THE MINING AND GEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
OF INDIA: HONORARY FELLOW OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS : CORI~ESPONDING
. FELLOW OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBUROUGH.
AO •• •
Published by :
The Principal Commissioner of Museums
Government Museum
Chennai-8
1999
"
MADRAS GOVERNMENT MUSEUM
THE -FOOTE COLLECTION
OF
INDIAN PREHISTORIC 'AND PROTOHISTORIC -.
ANTIQUITIES.
CATALOGUE RAISONNE
BY
ROBERT BRUCE FOOTE,
F.G.S., F.RA.I., M. \' . .. ,
SUPERINTENDENT, GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA, RETIRED: LATE STATE GEOLOGIST IN BAI~O[)A
AND MYSORE STATES: HONORARY MEMBER OF THE MINING AND GEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
OF INDIA: HONORARY FELLOW OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS: CORHESPONDING
FELLOW OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBUROUGH,
$.-'
Published by :
The Principal Commissioner of Museums
Government Museum
Chennai-8
1999
First Edition : 1914
Reprinted : 1999
© Principal Commissioner of Museums
Government Museum, Chennai-8
Price: Rs.200.00
Printed at
Madipakkam Stationery & Register Making
Industrial Co-op. Society Ltd.,
Chennai-81.
PREFACE.
'l.'HE coll~ction of Indian Prehistoric and Protohistoric
Antiquities referr.ed to in the followiug pages was
formed by the late Mr. R. Bruce Foote, F.G .. S., during the
course of a long residence in India. Mr. Foote joined the
Geological Survey of India in September J 85~, and retired
as Senior Superintendent of the Survey thirty-three years
later. The greater part of his service was ~pentin South
ern India, the geology and palreontology of which he did
much to elucidate by his investigations and writings.
After his retirement he served for some years as State
Geologist, Baroda, and as Uirector of the Geological
Department, Mysore State.
By the discovery of palreolithic implements near
Madras, in 1863, Mr. Foote became the pione>er of this branch
of research in India} one in which he was later a recognisod
authority. During his long connection with the Geological
Survey the ordinary ,routine of work entailed. prolonged
tours over a considerable part of Southern India, and much
of his leisure was oQcupied in collecting all available
material which tended to throw light on the habits and
culture of prehistoric man. An extensive collection was
thus accumulated, consisting for the most part of specimens
found .by Mr. Foote in the Madras Presidency and the
neighbouring States of Mysore and Hyderabad, but also
in Baroda and other parts of Northern India; to these
personal finds a few others from various Indian localities
and from Ceylon were presented by friends, or added by
exchange.
The entire collection was purchased by the Mad l'as
Government in 1904, and a special room was built for its
reception in the Art and Ethnological Section of the
Madras M.useum. At the same time it was arranged that
a descriptive catalogue of the collection shou"l be prepareu
·
IV PREFACE.
for publication by Mr. Foote. By the end of 1908 the
specimens had been numbered and arranged, but the com
pletion of the catalogue was retarded by ill-health and
failing eyesight which clouded the remaining years of
Mr. Foote's life.
Mr. Foote died on 29th December 1912, aged seventy
eight years. The catalogue had already passed through
several proofs .w hich were revised by the author, but a con
siderable amount of revision has still been found necessary.
On checking the num bered specimens in the collection
with the corresponding entries in the Catalogue Raisonne.
it was found that some of the former were missing, and as
all efforts to trace them have failed they are indicated by
an asterisk prefixed to the catalogue number. On the other
hand a certain number of specimens were found in the
collection hearing numbers which do not appear in th~
catalogue, and such of these as could not with certainty be
referred to any of the missing exhibits are shown iu a case
placed at the end of the series.
The cataJogue appears in two volumes, the first of
Which is a descriptive list of the objectA in the collection,
arranged according to the districts and localities in which
taey were found. The second volume includes the author's
notes on the ages and distribution of the antiquit.ies, the
plates and map, thA general index and certain addenda
written by Mr. Foote shortly before his death.
J. R. HENDERSON,
81lperintendent, Government MU86Um.
Madras,
7th Februar!J 1914.
S. RANGAMANI, I.A.S.
Government Museum,
Principal Commissioner of Museums Chennai • 600 008.
PREFACE
Mr. Robert Bruce Foote collected a lot of Indian prehistoric and
protohistoric antiquities in Southern India. He joined the Geological
Survey of India in 1858 and retired as Senior Superintendent of the
Survey after 35 years. After retirement, he served for some years as
State Geologist, Baroda and as Director of the Geology Department,
Mysore State.
He did research on the palaeolithic implements near Chennai in
1863. He became the pioneer of this branch in India. He toured some
parts of South India and collected the materials of prehistoric man. He
collected materials from Madras Presidency, Mysore State, Hydrabad,
Baroda and some parts of North India. His entire collections were
purchased by the Madras Government Museum in 1904 and preserved
in the Ethnology section.
The descriptive catalogue was prepared and published by him. The
specimens ha<;i been numbered and arranged in the remaining years of
his life time.
He passed away on 29th December 1912 at the age of seventy eight.
His catalogue had already gone through several proofs which were
revised by the author.
The catalogue has two volumes. The first volume includes a descriptive
list of the objects in the collection, arranged according to districts and
localities in which they were found. The second includes the author's
notes on the age and distributioi 1 ofthe antiquities, plates and maps and
the general index written by Mr. R.B.Foote shortly before his death.
This catalogue will meetthe needs of students and research scholars
and prove to be useful to them.
Chellnai -8.
11.02.1999
ABBREVIATIONS AND TECHNICAL WORDS
EMPLOYED IN THE NOTES AND
C.A.TALOGUE.
The numerals 1, 2, 3 or 4 after the desoriptive nSl.me of celts,
or other neolithio objeot8, indicate the stage of manufaoture to
whioh the specimen had been advanced by the original maker.
" 1 " signifies" chipped" or the first stage.
" 2 " signifies "pecked" or the second stage, when the angles
of the several chippings had been broken down by pecking or
hammering with a pointed stone, to reduce the quantity of
material to be removed by.grinding.
" 3" signifies that the object had renohed the third stage, by
being ground by friction in grooves generally found in the Bolid rock,
in the manufacturing sites.
" 4 " signifies polishing by which the implement was oompleted
for use.
E. W. = Earthenware.
T.B. =Travellers' Bungalow.
F.B.=A bowl in sbape like a modem finger glass or bowl.
B.I., B.O.= Black inside or black outside.
B.=Black.
R.=,Red.
~.=Black over Red.
R.I. =Red inside.
The black and red colours'often shade into each other, the black
more frequently ocourring in :he upper part of the vessellLlld the
red in the lower, presumably Irom the lower part having been
better fired. Other colours as red-brown and brown are occasion
ally seen shading into the red and muoh less often into the black.
8angam is the junction of two rivers, ~.g., the Narsipur sangam,
the junotion of the Cauvery and Kabbani, at Narsipur in Mysore.
"Oumersll.ip marking8," soratohings on the surface of the
finished vessel very various in shape.
The word "Veseel" is used when the speoimen was too frag
mentary to allow of a definite name being applied to it. ,
vi ABBREVIATIONS AND TEOHNICAL WORDS.
" Tuyere" (French), an earthenware cylinder, large or small,
u~ed to prot.flct the nozzle of bellows against t.he action of fire.
The tuyeres themselves are frequently found fused at their points.
"Joint plane.," fissures caused by shrinkage of heated rock
masses, which very often give rise to the production of forms very
suita"ble for chipping into celts and kindred implements. Pieces
of trap rock with several oonvenient joint planes were much sought
for by the celt makers, in order to save themselves great la.bour.
"Oacholongs," dark siliceous stones, the surfaces of which have
become hydrated by weather action and have assumed a white or
grey colour. "
"Ar," short for aru (Tamil), a river.
"Er," short for eru (Telugu), a river ..
Pra/jt, a district or provinoe, Gujarati term.
Tappas, small outlying tracts of territory in Gujarat and
Kathiawar.
"Selected 8tone8," stones foreign to the locality where found
. and brought from a distance to be manufactured into flakes,
scrapers, etc. They are often of bright a.nd pleasing colours.
Blip, a coating of colour wash applied to pottery.
Linchet, a small clearing on the top or sides of a generally rocky
hill, frequently covered with turf and often revetted on its lower
slope. Such clearings are common on the castellated granite hills
in the Deccan.
The terms used to describe the materia.l of which the neolithic
celts and larger implements have been manufactured ate only
popular, being descriptive of their external appearance and not
strictly petrological. Their exact determination was impossible, as
the specimens could not be broken to furnish fragments convertible
into sections for microscopical examination.
By the term Basalt, a very close-grained dense black rock is
meant which might perhaps be called a diabase petrologically.
The name Diorite is given to a distinctly coarse granular
material, showing two principal cOIlstituents slightly different in
colour, blackish and grey.
Hornblendic 8chW is a name descriptive of a very fine grained
delicately laminated rock, generally dark black in colour and
showing a high polish in well finished specimens.
Trappoid is material intermediate between basalt and diorite
and generally of black colour.
Green8ton. is a greenish variety of diorite.
.... BBREVU,TIONS AND TECHNICAL WORDS. vii
As it is necessary in some cases to give definite names to the
colours of the specimens, I refer wherever possible to the tints
shown by the dry cakes of water-colours in a colour box, e.g., yellow
ochre, raw sienna, burnt sienna, etc., but there are of course many
speoimens of intermedia.te shades which have to be indioated by
desoription, as for example chocolate, brown sienna (intermediate
between raw and burnt sienna), etc.
Tho arrangement of the specimens is geographical, and the
plates referred to will be found in the volumo of Notes on the
Ages and Distribution of the Indian Prehistoric and Protohistoric
Antiquities in the FOOTE COLLECTION.
