An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s16.9

v1.c9.s16.9

It may briefly be stated that the assumption that the beginning of iron in India should be associated with the coming of the Aryans and the supposed destruction of the Hittite monopoly of iron technology should now be discarded. Even without entering into any debate over the Aryans it may be pointed out that the so-called Hittite monopoly of iron is a myth (Chakrabarti, 1976) and that iron in the n.-w. part of the subcontinent is not found to be earlier than that in inner India. Moreover, in view of the high antiquity of iron in c. and s. India there is no difficulty in accepting India as a separate early centre of iron technology. It may also be stressed that the belief in a unitary origin of iron technology has been given a death-blow by the occurrence of smelted iron between 1600 and 1200 B.C. in stratified contexts at the site of Ban Chiang in Thailand.