History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c39.s2.t3.2

v1.c39.s2.t3.2

Iron was discovered as early as 1200 B.C., but its widespread use in the Gangetic valley did not start, according to Sharma himself, before the sixth century B.C. The artisans in the Rajasthan-Uttar Pradesh area took many centuries to standardise reduction-smelting, lamination and fabrication of iron artifacts, and they did not have sufficient good grade iron ore for mass production. Kosambi had pointed out that the spurt of iron technology in India had to wait till the Vedic cultural people crossed the Ganges in Bihar, moved south and gained proper access to the iron ore deposits (Kosambi, 1965).