Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c10.s2.t2.29

v1.c10.s2.t2.29

The most outstanding evidence is from Mehargarh which shows a copper bead in the early eighth millennium BC and copper metallurgy in the early fifth millennium BC. These dates are well before the earliest Iranian dates from Tepe Yahya and Tal-i-Iblis. These evidences have resulted in a complete ‘collapse of the earlier Irano-centric view’ stating that the chalcolithic culture diffused from Iran to the Indus Valley in India. (Asthana, 1985: 16-82) The diffusion of chalcolithic culture seems to be from the nuclear zone of Mehargarh towards Mundigak and further west and also towards the north, north-east and south of Mehargarh extending up to the Indus valley and ultimately resulting in the ‘Indus Valley’ or the Mature-Harappan civilization.