Hoards of copper objects, deliberately deposited, are found over much of northern India, most frequently in the Ganges-Yamuna plain. The majority of these hoards have not been recovered through controlled excavation, but have been uncovered accidentally during ploughing or construction work. As they have therefore been removed from their original context, they are difficult to date precisely. However at a number of sites they have been found with material known to belong to the Ochre Coloured Pottery (OCP) culture, which can be loosely dated to the second millennium BC – roughly the period between the end of the Indus Civilisation and the Iron Age. Some technological features of copper hoard objects show continuity with Indus metalworking traditions.

Copper hoards typically contain bar celts, distinctive barbed harpoons, 'antennae' swords (so-called because of two antennae-like protrusions at the base of the tang, where the handle was attached), anthropomorphic axes, ingots and occasionally figurines. Some objects appear to have been unfinished or unused, prompting suggestions that the copper hoards were either the hidden property of craftsmen or, alternatively, votive deposits.