Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c20.s3.t7.12

v1.c20.s3.t7.12

There is controversy about the date of the earliest Iron Age in Eran: 1100-1000 BC or 700 BC. (Ghosh, 1989: Vol. II, pp. 135-36) In any case the tradition of iron-making must have diffused from the Yamuna-Ganga doab sites of Atrañjikhera, Hastināpura etc. Banerjee (1965: 28-32) cited literary evidences about the abandonment of the flooded site of Hastināpura during king Nichakshu’s time and re-settlement of the population at Kauśāmbī near Allahabad; he argued that this might have taken place around 800 BC. Ghosh (1989: Vol II, pp. 214-15) supports this date for the pre-NBPW phase at Kauśāmbī, and disagrees with the suggestion of G.R. Sharma (1969), the excavator, who had suggested a much earlier date. Kauśāmbī shows iron in its earliest phase; varieties of the offence weapons however proliferated only after the NBPW era had started in 500 BC. Similarly, the site of Rajghat, Vārāṇasī has its earliest date in eighth century BC and the varieties of iron equipments appeared 600 BC onwards.