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From a consideration of the details given above a 
certain number of facts and conclusions of importance 
emerge, to wit :— 
(az) In all cases the fragments of bangles and of 
chank shells appear to have been surface finds. In 
several cases this is definitely stated and in the remainder 
wherever no statement of horizon is given, the context 
points to a like provenance. From this it follows that 
association with neolithic artifacts in itself has little value 
or significance ; both neoliths and chank fragments are 
practically indestructible by atmospheric weathering 
agencies and their association may merely connote the 
fact that particular surface areas have suffered little or no 
denudation or change since neolithic times whereby the 
broken implements and discarded ornaments of a later 
age have mingled with those of an earlier one. Or it 
may be the result of the artifacts of different ages having 
been weathered out of different alluvial strata in such 
way that they come eventually to lie together at a lower 
level of the original ground or else in some newer river 
deposit into which floods may have rolled them. 
(4) The facts already noted that all sections of 
chank shells, working pieces as well as wastage scraps, 
show cleanly sawn surfaces as verified by examination of 
the originals now in the Madras Museum, and that these 
surfaces show series of striae often at two or more angles 
to one another, are sufficient to negative the tentative 
suggestion made by Mr. Bruce Foote assigning a neolithic 
origin tothe workmanship. Neither serrate nor biserrate 
chert flake saws however delicately made could possibly 
produce such cleanly sawn sections as we see represented 
in the collection. The aid of thin metal saws must be 
invoked and it is most significant that in two instances 
(Ambavalli in Kathiawar and Muski in the Raichur 
Doab) fragments of iron knives were found associated 
with the remnants of chank working sections. In several 
other cases (Srinivaspur in Mysore, Havaligi Hill in 
Anantapur, and Bastipad in Kurnul) pieces of iron slag 
were found in association. 
As the working sections of chank shells retain visible 
evidence of being sawn by means of a metal (iron) saw 
and as iron fragments are frequently associated with 
them, the evidence is to me satisfactory that the age of 
