Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c9.8

v1.c9.8

The diffusionist theory of the iron technology being brought into India from outside by the ‘invading Aryans’ are discussed in chapter 12 and rejected. There are enough evidences that by 1200 BC the Iron Age had started indigenously in at least three nuclear zones of the sub-continent — around Atrañjikhera in the north, Karnataka in the south and in the Bengal-Bihar area in the north-east. The various features of the early Indian practises such as solid-state reduction, carburization, lamination, forge-welding, quench-hardening, etc. and the various iron tool types used in different nuclear zones are presented in chapter 12.