The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c33.6

v1.c33.6

At what date iron came to supplant copper in the north of India is uncertain, but literary evidence from the Vedas seems to indicate that it was introduced into the north-west during the second millennium B.C.¹ It was about the same time, too, that it came into general use in Mesopotamia, and it is probable enough that the knowledge not only of this metal but of copper also in a previous age was acquired from that region. Between the Babylonian, or Assyrian, and Indian civilisations, indeed, many archaeological links are traceable, among which may be noticed, parenthetically, the remarkable resemblance presented by the oblong, short-legged terracotta sarcophagi from the neighbourhood of Baghdad to those of a prehistoric date found at Pallāvaram and other places in the Madras Presidency.