‘Bronze age’ hunting tools unearthed in Shahjahanpur

Even as Unnao’s Daundia Khera fort continues to hog the headlines for the ongoing gold hunt, ‘bronze age’ history was unearthed in Shahjahanpur on Wednesday after a farmer recovered 15 ancient arrows and hunting tools of metal while ploughing.

The day was no different for Neeraj Kumar, an agriculture labourer from Bajpur village. As usual, he reached the farmland of Shivkumar, a native of the same village, during the early morning hours to plough the field. “I began at 6am, soon after I was joined by other workers in the field and thus we began,” said Neeraj.

It was during the afternoon, Neeraj said, when the plough got stuck into some uneven metal object. “I tried a lot, but the animals pulling the plough couldn’t move ahead. Thus I preferred to dig to find out the exact cause of obstruction,” said Neeraj.

Digging a few centimetres revealed a metal object, he added.

“Going deeper into the ground, we found that it’s a hunting tool resembling ancient ar rows possibly used during the Mahabharat era,” he said. On digging further, the farmers engaged in ploughing unearthed 15 hunting tools of different shapes and sizes. Neeraj said on an average the weight of each tool -- made up of bronze or some other metal -- was approximately 100 grams.

The news of the recovery of the ‘golden arrows’ spread like wildfire, following which thousands of people from the neighbouring villagers in Shajahanpur thronged the farmland to see the ‘historical discovery’. A few farmers even took away a few of those tools home.

On getting information, a team of administration officials and the police reached the village.

However, none of them made any effort to confiscate the unearthed tools. “On seeing that the arrows were not of gold, they left,” said Neeraj, who was left with only five tools by the evening.

By the evening, after realising the importance of the ‘ancient find’, cops from the Sindhauli police station took the tools into their custody and informed administrative officials.

“I took all the tools into our custody. These are made up of bronze and some other metals. We have also informed the administrative officials and the UP State Archaeological Department about the findings,” said Ashwani Kumar Vish karma, inspector, Sindhauli police station, Shahjahanpur.