Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c20.s3.t1: A. North-Western Culture
Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c20.s3.t1
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A. North-Western Culture
v1.c20.s3.t1.1
In north-east Baluchistan, in the Zhob-Loralai region, a chain of cairn-burials containing iron was discovered by Stein and Mockler. There are no C-14 dates and the chronology is quite controversial. Chakrabarty (1979: 355-58) has questioned whether these can be dated much earlier than the Historical Period of only a few centuries BC. Eight consistent C-14 dates show that the Iron Age levels of Pirak, in the Kachchi plains of Baluchistan, are datable to 800 BC. Dani and Stacul differ in the periodization of the Swat sites e.g. Loebarn, Timargarh, Ghalighai etc. Dani puts the iron-bearing Period III to c. 900-600 BC. Stacul suggested an earlier date. Following Stacul’s scheme, D.P. Agrawal (1984: 251) suggested that the first appearance of iron in the Swat area is datable to c. 1000 BC. Chakrabarty (1979: 360-62) does not find this acceptable, and points out that even Stacul admits that Period V of Katelai (showing iron for the first time in Swat Valley) continued up to 900-800 BC.
v1.c20.s3.t1.2
Thus, north-western India can hardly claim any antecedence over Atrañjikhera in the western Uttar Pradesh and the sites of Noh and Jodhpura in Rajasthan regarding the first advent of iron in India. The anxiety to emphasize ‘early’ dates in the north-west may be traced to the subjective preference for the diffusionist theory (intrusion of the ‘Aryans’ from the west).