29 Iron Age – Antiquity of Iron in India

Ravi Korisettar and Smitha S Kumar

Introduction

All over the world, the Iron Age emerges after the copper-bronze age or bridges the gap between the Bronze Age and the Early Historic period. But, the date and origin of the iron artefacts and iron working in India have always remained a much debated research problem. The transition from copper to iron has always raised a series of questions. Was iron smelting an accidental by-product of copper smelting? Did the smelting and working of iron fit within the scope of the technological skill of coppersmiths, or did they involve a huge technological leap? Why did some communities start making and using iron tools after exploiting metals such as copper and bronze for so many centuries?

2. Iron in Copper-Bronze Age Setting

The first distinct phase in the development of a technology capable of producing iron in the Indian sub-continent coincides with chalcolithic cultures of the third and second millennium BCE. The evidence of iron lumps, pieces or artefacts from Chalcolithic levels at sites such as Lothal, Mohenjo Daro, Pirak, Allahdino, Ahar and Gufkral indicates that certain Chalcolithic communities were familiar with iron and were able to smelt it from the ores. This represented an initial or experimental stage. Evidence of the presence of iron in Chalcolithic deposits at Ahar suggested that the date of the beginning of iron smelting in India may well be places as early as the 16th century BCE and by the early decade of 13th century BCE iron smelting was definitely known in India on a bigger scale. However, the early dates for iron at Ahar are refuted on the grounds of uncertain stratigraphy. On the basis of radiocarbon dates ranging between 3790+110 BP and 3570 +100 BP available for the megalithic period without iron, a range of uncalibrated dates ranging from 1550-1300 BCE was proposed for the subsequent iron bearing period at Gufkral.

Iron is found at various Chalcolithic sites in Madhya Pradesh. BRW levels at sites such as Nagda on the banks of the Chambal and Eran on the banks of the Bina River we can see a broad cultural continuity between the Chalcolithic and Early Iron Age levels.

At Nagda, Period I belongs to the Malwa culture. The site was reoccupied after a short break of occupation. Period II was marked by BRW, although the earlier pottery types continued as did the microliths. Iron objects occurred throughout and included a double edged dagger, an axe socket, axe with broad cutting edge, spoon, ring, nail, arrow head, spear head, knife and sickle. Similarly at Eran, period I belonged to the Malwa culture, while period IIA had BRW and iron. At Ujjain, the iron artefacts found at BRW levels included a spearhead, arrowhead, knife, crowbar and spade. As the iron bearing BRW levels at these sites directly follows Malwa culture levels it can be dated c.1300 BCE. Such a dating is also indirectly supported by calibrated dates from chalcolithic levels at Eran.

Iron artefacts were found at Chalcolithic levels at Pandurajar Dhibi, Hatigra and Mangalkot in Bengal region. These sites of are in the Ajay valley. An extensive deposit of iron ore and slag was discovered from Period I (1112-803 BCE) at Bahiri and slags from Mangalkot.

In the case of Harappan Civilization, one can say with certainty that knowledge about the art of smelting and the production of these few iron objects does not make it an Iron Age culture, but remained as a Chalcolithic phenomenon because of its primary dependence was on copper based artefacts and stone technology. The large scale use of iron and the achievement of technical skill in iron working was something that gradually happened and at a later stage.

3. ZONES

Various scholars have identified and divided Iron Age cultures of Indian subcontinent into different zones. Prakash and Tripathi have divided it into five different zones e.g., Zone A- North Western India, which also includes Pakistan; Zone B- Painted Grey ware culture of North India; Zone C- Black and Red Ware culture of North-East India; Zone D- Megalithic culture of Central India; Zone E- Megalithic culture of peninsular India. Chakrabati also has identified six iron using centres in the subcontinent. Baluchisthan, the North West; the Indo Ganga divide and the upper Ganga valley; eastern India; Malwa and Berar in Central India; Megalithic South India. Both the schemes are similar and differ only slightly from each other.

All these centres are located in or near iron ore resources and all of them have given evidence of pre industrial smelting. There is a widely prevalent, but misplaced belief that iron technology was introduced into the subcontinent by the Indo Aryans. But, Chakrabarti’s analysis indicates that there is no evidence that iron technology diffused into the Indian subcontinent from West Asia or anywhere else. The use of iron in central and South India seems to have started earlier than in the north-west or the Ganga valley, and this metal seems to have entered the productive system in most parts of the subcontinent by c.800 BCE. However, recent evidence from certain sites from Uttar Pradesh has altered part of this picture dramatically.

The following section summarises the evidence of Iron Age zones in the subcontinent. For convenience, the iron using centres can be identified as North West; the Indo Gangetic divide and the upper Ganga valley; Rajasthan; The middle Ganga valley; The Deccan and South India. Certain regions do not find mention because of the reason that they have not been properly explored or because they are areas where iron made its appearance at a later date. For example, evidence of iron can be discovered only during the historical period.

4.  Archaeological Cultures

4. 1. The NorthWest

Iron objects of various types have been found in cairn burial sites in Baluchisthan such as Dambah Koh, Jiwanri, Gatti, Nasirabad, Zangian, Mughul Ghundai and Bishezard. Scholars have dated them between c.1100 and 500 BCE

At Pirak in the Kachi plain of Baluchistan, there was a limited amount of iron in level VI; iron artefacts increased in levels IV and III. The earliest evidence of iron at Pirak can be dated between c.1000 and 800 BCE. Iron objects also appeared in period VII of the Gandhara Grave culture and can be dated to the 1st millennium BCE. At Saraikhola, iron makes its appearance in the second phase of graves of Period III and is dated to first half of the 1st millennium BCE.

The Kumaon-Garhwal region is rich in metal and minerals. Various iron objects and evidence of slag were found at the site of Uleniin the upper Ramganga basin in the Almora district of Kumaon. This site is clearly an iron smelting and working site which has given a calibrated date range of 1022-826 BCE

4.2 The Indo Ganga Divide and the Upper Ganga Valley

4.2.1 The Painted Grey Ware Culture (PGW)

The PGW culture is named after the pottery of the same name. This ware was first found at Ahichchhatra in Bareilly District of Uttar Pradesh. During excavations in 1944, but its importance was fully realized, only after its discovery by B.B Lal in the excavations at Hastinapura during 1950–1951. This pottery has a very extensive distribution stretching from the Himalayan foothills to the Malwa plateau in central India and from Bahawalpur region of Pakistan to Kausambi near Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. It has been found in the hilly regions of Kumaon and Garhwal from sites like Kashipur, Thapli and Purola.Random sherds have been found at Vaishali in Bihar, Lakhiyopir in Sinh and Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. However, the main concentration of this culture is in the Indo-Ganga Divide, the Sutlej basin and upper Ganga plains.

The dates of PGW culture range from c.1100 to c.500/400 BCE and it has been observed that the sites in the northwest are possibly earlier than those in the Ganga valley. Stratigraphically, the PGW is followed by the Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW phase in the Ganga valley), the beginning of which can be traced back to c. 700 BCE at Sringaverapura.

Excavated sites such as Hastinapur, Alamgirpur, Ahichchhatra, Allahpur, Mathura, Kampil, Noh, Jodhpura, Bhagwanpura, Jakhera, Kausambi and Shravasti give evidence of PGW material culture. This culture occurs in four kinds of stratigraphic contexts. It is preceded by Late Harappan level with an intervening break in occupation at sites like Rupar and Sanghol in Punjab, Daulatpur in Haryana, and Alamgirpur and Hulas in western UP. At sites such as Dadheri, Katpalon and Nagar in Punjab and Bhaganwanpura in Haryana there is an overlap between the PGW and Late Harappan phase. At some sites like Hastinapura and Ahichchhatra in Uttar Pradesh it is preceded by the Ochre Coloured Pottery (OCP) culture with a break in between and in sites such as Attranjikhera in Uttar Pradesh and Noh and Jodhpura in Rajasthan PGW phase is preceded by Black and Red Ware (BRW) with a break in between. At the upper end PGW phase overlaps with Northern Black Polished Ware culture.

PGW sites have yielded evidence of a fairly evolved, proto-urban or semi urban stage. Most of the artefacts found at PGW levels seem to be connected with hunting or war such as arrowheads, spearheads, blades, daggers and lances. But there are also evidence of artefacts connected to carpentry like clamps, sockets, rods, rings, pins, chisels, axes, adzes, borers and scrapers .From sites like Jakhera a large number of iron objects, including agricultural implements such as ploughshare, hoes and a sickle were found which indicates subsistence based on agriculture.

The chemical analysis of iron artefacts from PGW levels at Atranjikhera has indicated that they were made of wrought iron and were then carburized, probably, by keeping them on a bed of charcoal for a long time at a high temperature. The composition of the objects and pieces of iron slag at the site matched that of the iron-rich rocks found in the stretch of hills between Agra and Gwalior, indicating that these were the source of the iron ore.

4.2.2 Rajasthan

Noh near Bharatpur share a similar cultural sequence with sites in the neighbouring upper Ganga valley. Here, Period I yielded OCP and period II was marked by BRW. Some shapeless pieces of iron were found in Period II. Period III was marked by PGW and yielded iron artefacts such as spearhead, arrowhead with a socketed tang and an axe with a broad cutting-edge.

In eastern Rajasthan, PGW levels at Jodhpura revealed a crucible-shaped furnace used for the direct reduction of ore, where the bloom was heated in an open furnace and forged on an adjacent platform.

4.2.3 The Middle and Lower Ganga Valley

Recent evidence suggests the beginning of iron technology in the middle Ganga valley in the early and mid 2nd millennium BCE. The excavated sites are Raja Nal ka Tila , Malhar, Dadupur and Lahuradeva. Raja Nal ka Tila is located in the upper reaches of Karamnasa and the excavation revealed four periods. Iron was found in pre-NBPW deposits of Period II. Evidence includes slag and iron artefacts such as nail, arrowhead, knife and a chisel and can be dated to a range between 1400 and 800 BCE calibrated.

Excavations at Malhar revealed a sequence of four periods defined as Period I-pre iron, Period II-Early Iron; Period III: NBPW; Period IV:BCE 200 to 300 CE. Iron is present in all layers of period II was dated to the early 2nd millennium BCE

Calibrated radiocarbon dates from Black and Red Ware levels at Dadupur suggest that this metal have been introduced at this site in c.1700 BCE. Iron at Jhusi (Period IB) near Allahabad is dated c.1300 BCE. But, at Ganweria in the middle Ganga valley iron often appears in association with Black Slipped Ware. Iron bearing levels follow the Chalcolithic levels in Koldhiwa without any break. Iron nodules were found from Panchoh along with ill fired handmade pottery microliths and small Neolithic celts.

At Narhan on the banks of the Sarayu iron objects made their first appearance in the Black and Red Ware phase (Period I) and increased significantly in Period II dominated by Black Slipped Ware. Period II shows an increase in the number and variety of arrowheads and is dated to 800-600 BCE.

In Bihar and Bengal, the earliest iron artefacts appear in a Black and Red Ware context at sites such as Chirand, Sonpur, Tardih, Bahiri, Mahisdal and Bharatpur and can be placed in the first quarter of the 1st millennium BCE. Many sites show cultural continuity from the Chalcolithic BRW phase to the early iron BRW phase. But in Mahisdal early iron artefacts occurred along with microliths and at Barudih associated with neoliths.

These results indicate that iron using and iron working was prevalent in the central Ganga plain and the eastern Vindhyas from the early second millennium BCE.

4.3 The Deccan

The earliest artefacts in the Deccan at BRW levels and many of them are associated with megaliths. The relationship between these levels and the preceding Chalcolithic Jorwe culture is not clear. Many of the Jorwe sites seem to have been deserted for four to five centuries and were reoccupied in about the 6th/5th century BCE. At other places there seems to be some cultural continuity between the Jorwe phase and the succeeding Iron Age phase.

Prakash has a cultural sequence similar to that of Nagda Malwa culture levels, followed by a short break in occupation, then a BRW deposit yielding iron artefacts followed by an early historical NBPW level. The iron artefacts found at BRW levels at Prakash comprised the following types: tanged arrowhead, celt like axe head, knife blade, sickle, chisels edged tanged object, clamb, lance or spearhead, ferrule and nails. Similar evidence was found at Bahal.

Several megalithic burials and associated habitational deposits in Maharshtra have yielded iron objects. Important sites include Takalghat- Khapa, Naikund, mahurjhari, Bhagimohari, Borgaon, Ranjala, Pimpalsuti and Junapani. The calibrated range of dates from Naikund are 800-420 BCE and 785 -410 BCE, these sites seem to have been flourishing agricultural settlements. Barley, rice and lentil grains were found on the house floors at Naikund. There were a wide range of copper and iron artefacts. The iron artefacts included ladles, nails, dagger blades, arrowheads, knives, chisels, spikes, axes, double-edged adzes, blades, bars/rods, fish hooks, horse bits, bangles, nail-parer-cum-ear picks, tridents, a spear head, sword and cauldron. Iron hoes were found at Naikund and there was also evidence of the local smelting of iron. The remains of a workshop included, a furnace made of small curved bricks with a cylindrical terracotta pipe. Iron ore was found in a Nala about a kilometre away from the smelting site. Mahurjhari was an important bead manufacturing site and the exceptional richness of grave goods in the burials may be related to this fact. Bead manufacture at this site continued from the megalithic to the early historic phase.

The remains of horse replete with iron bits and bedecked with copper ornaments were found at almost all the stone circles at Mahurjhari and Naikund. One of the Mahurjhari burials revealed a complete skeleton of a horse, cut marks suggesting that it had been sacrificed and then buried with the humans. There were two other dramatic burials- one grave contained the remains of an adult male, his mouth gaping, an arrow embedded near his collar bone. The second contained the top part of the body of an adult male, a dagger with an iron blade and copper hilt rested on his chest. Such burials speak eloquently of a warrior tradition.

4.4 South India

In South India, the earliest iron objects appear in the overlap between the Neolithic and Megalithic phases.

Megaliths of peninsular India are generally associated with iron unlike that of Vindhyan megaliths which belong to a pre-iron Chalcolithic context. Megalithic sites were initially understood as settlements of nomadic pastoralists. However, the evidence clearly indicates that early Iron Age communities in the far south lived on a combination of agriculture, hunting, fishing and animal husbandry. There is also evidence of well-developed craft traditions. These features along with the megalithic monuments themselves suggest sedentary living.

Iron objects generally out number objects made of other metals at megalithic sites. The large volume and variety of iron artefacts- utensils, weapons, carpentry tools and agricultural implements indicates the metal’s wide spread use in everyday life .

Different sorts of metallurgical techniques were used in the manufacture of metal artefacts. Some of the copper and bronze objects were evidently cast in moulds, others were hammered into shape. Some communities knew how to alloy metals. An analysis of iron artefacts at Pazhayannur and Machad indicates that the metal was relatively pure with small traces of other elements. Most of the metal objects at these two sites seem to have been made by forging thin strips, which were then joined by beating them together. One of the objects, a hook, was moulded. There is evidence of local smelting of iron at Banahalli in Karnataka and Payyampally in Tamil Nadu.

4.5 Middle Iron Age

Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW)

A new stage of Iron Age culture appeared around 6th century BCE in the lower Ganga-Yamuna Doab region, characterized by Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW), which continued to until the early centuries of CE. The NBPW period saw the emergence of cities and first political entities known as Mahajanapadas in the Ganga plains .The term NBPW was coined in 1946 at Ahichchhatra by Wheeler and Krishna Deva though Marshal had already identified this ware at Sarnath and Bhita, where it was called as fine black lustrous ware. This culture extended as far as Amaravati, Dharanikota and Chebrolu in the south, areas of Swat, Charsada and taxila in the north, Bangarh and Chandraketugarh in the east and Prabhas and eastern parts of Rajasthan in the west.

The NBPW can be considered as the most widespread Iron Age pottery. This pottery can be seen in two types, monochrome and bichrome, both made of well levigated clay, fired at high temperature, have a thin fabric with glossy surface and metallic sound. Sometimes this pottery is also decorated with designs.

In its early stage, NBPW is associated with Black and Red Ware, Black Slipped, Plain Grey Ware, Painted Grey Ware, Red Slipped Ware and Coarse Red Ware whereas in the later stage Coarse Grey and Red Wares are also found.

Small quantities of NBP have been found at sites in central India, eastern India, South India and even in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It is believed that this pottery was carried to far off places by the Buddhist monks and high administrative officials. The high technological excellence associated with the manufacture of NBP is also seen in the production of steel during this period

The C14 dates of some important sites of NBPW sites are; Ropar485±100; Hastinapura 340± 110; Ahichchatra 475±105; Noh 685±105; Atranjikhera 530±85;Kosambi 500±110; Rajghat 490 ± 110 and Rajgir 265±105.At Sonpur and Chirand, th earliest evidence of this pottery is assigned to 7th and 8th centuries BCE whereas in areas like Kayatha and Ujjain the beginning has been assigned to 5th century BCE. At Amaravati it begins around 4th -3rd centuries BCE. Thus, the dates range between 6th century BCE and 1st century CE.

5.Conclusions

From the above information it can be understood that in India a gradual development of iron technology is indicated. Stages in its evolution from the initial awareness of iron, through its cultural identification as an important metal to the production have been signified. Scholars like Vibha Tripathi suggested that three stages of gradual development of iron technology as well as cultures. The stage I is largely represented by Painted Grey ware culture people and the stage II is represented by Northern Black Polished Ware culture and Megalithic culture in the middle and lower Ganga-Yamuna doad and in the peninsular India respectively. Stage III witnessed the emergence or urban centres like Taxila, Kosambi and Hastinapura.

Web links

http://archaeologyonline.net/artifacts/iron-ore

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