Copper in Ancient India c7.2

c7.2

¹ "Weapons and other objects made of iron are found abundantly in many parts of India in stone circles or associated with cromlechs and other stone monuments, many of which appear to be of great antiquity and to have been erected by tribes long since extirpated or driven from the country. The erection of rude stone monoliths is still practised by some of the wilder tribes, so that the date of such erections is in many cases doubtful. There can be little, if any, question, however, that many of the stone circles of Central Provinces and the 'Korumba ringa' of Southern India date from a period previous to the Aryan immigration, and they were possibly contemporaneous with the very similar remains found in Europe and Central Asia. In Europe, however, stone circles and cromlechs are considered characteristic of the bronze age, whereas in India iron implements have been found associated with them in several places, amongst others near Nagpur in the Wardha district, near Ferozabad and Sonapur, east of Hydrabad in the Deccan in Muisur (Mysore) and Kurg (Coorg), on the Nilgiri Hills, in Malabar, Coimbatore, Salem and Tinnevelly. It appears not improbable that iron may have been discovered in India at an earlier period than in Europe"--Medlicott and Blanfords Geology of India, Part 1, p. 443.