Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c20.s6.1

v1.c20.s6.1

We have discussed the Iron Age traditions in India during protohistoric and early historic eras. The dates of the earliest iron age sites in India (Table 12.2) show that the discovery and use of iron started around 1200 BC indigenously and independently in at least three nuclear zones — Karnataka area in the south, U.P.-Rajasthan area in the north and West Bengal-Bihar area in the north-east. There are enough evidences of early experimentation, imperfect reduction, wastage of iron in the slag in the sites of each of the three nuclear zones to justify the theory of indigenous origin. The possibility of Sialk VI iron-making tradition influencing all the three far-away nuclear zones in India almost simultaneously, through the ‘immigrant Aryans or the cairn burial people’ may be safely ruled out. Diffusion of technical knowledge might have taken place, but not necessarily through racial intrusions and invasions.