BEGINNING OF USE OF IRON

1. BEGINNING OF USE OF IRON
• Earlier believed iron appeared in 1500BC. But with time and many more
excavations now there are many dates found from all over India.
•From Ahar iron is found in the form of slag and associated with BRW dating
1550BC.
•At Hastinapur again iron is found in the form of slag dating 800 BC associated
with PGW.
•At Atranjikhera (excavated by R.C. Gaur of AMU) date of iron goes back to
1200 BC. In Ganga Yamuna doab (divide), iron is associated with PGW and
dates back to 1200 BC.
•In southern region of India such as at Brahmagiri, Hallur etc. iron is dated 1000
BC and generally associated with megaliths.
•Recent excavation in Uttar Pradesh by R.K. Tiwari at the sites such as Raja Nal
ka Tila, Malhar and Jhusi have given dates of iron 1300-700 BC, 1900 BC and
1100 BC respectively.
•So far 1900 BC is the earliest date of iron in India.

2. • According to D.K. Chakrabarthy the date of iron should be earlier and goes
back to around 2300 BC because the type of metallurgy is similar to the
Kayatha people. Mundas and Santhalia are mastered in blacksmith work.
• In today’s context Gadaria Lohar can be found in the region of Kutch,
Gujarat and Southern Rajasthan.
• We can divide the entire India into 5 zones to know the dates of iron:
• 1. Indo-Gangetic Divide
• 2. Central India Particularly Malwa region.
• 3. Middle and lower Ganga Valley
• 4. South India particularly Karnataka
• 5. Outside India (Swat Valley on the west and Thailand in the east)- The
date here is found to be around 3rd millennium BC.
• In Thailand from the site Ban Chiang evidence of iron smelting has been
found which dates back to 1000-1200 BC.
• IRON AGE IN GANGETIC DOAB :
• Gangetic doab has been divided into: three parts
• (a). Upper Ganga Plain
• - encompasses distance of 560 km. from east to west and 380 km. north to
south, covering administrative region of Meerut, Agra, Rohilkhand, Lucknow,
Faizabad, Allahabad.

3. • Some of the archaeological sites are Ahichchhatra, Atranjikhera,
Alamgirpur, Allahapur, Hastinapur, Khalaua, Kausambhi, Rajghat,
Prahaladpur
• (b). Middle Ganga Plain
• Remaining part of Eastern U.P. and Bihar, region of Ganga and Ghaggar,
Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Patna, Bhagalpur covering the distance of 600 km
from East to West and 330 Km from North to south.
• Some of the Archaeological sites in this area are Chirand, Noh, Jodhpura,
Mathura
• (c).Lower Ganga Plain: West Bengal and Orissa
• Note: No tool typology has been found from Hastinapur, whereas from
Atranjikhera a spear head, arrowhead, Chisel, hooks has been found.
• From Noh we get a spear head, leafed arrow head, socketed or tanged
arrow head
• CULTURAL SEQUENCE OF FEW SITES
• (1). HASTINAPUR: Excavated by Prof. B.B. Lal in 1949-50 under the
project Mahabharata.
• Pd1- Pre OCP (1000-1200 BC)
• [Break- attested by a flood]

5. • Pd 2- PGW, BRW, Plain Black Ware, Burnished Red Ware, Copper, Iron
Slag (top layer) dated to 800 BC and it is again sealed by flood activity of a
very high magnitude.
• After this, site remained abundant for 200 years.
• Pd 3- NBPW (6th-3rd CBC)
• [Break]
• Pd 4- Sunga-Kushana (2nd BC- 3rd AD)
• [break]
• Pd 5- 1100 AD-1500AD
• (2). ATRANJIKHERA:
• Situated in district Etah, on the River Kali Nadi (tributary of Ganga). Site was
excavated by R.C. Gaur of AMU.
• Pd 1- OCP (1st half of 2nd Millennium BC) (TL date- 1690 BC)
• Pd 2- BRW (without iron) (1460-1200 BC)
• Pd 3- PGW (1200-600 BC) [spear head, arrow head, chisel, hooks, axes,
pair of tongs etc. and iron is found in this level]
• Pd 4- NBPW (600-50 BC)
• Pd 5 to 7- (50 BC- 1600 AD) up to Maratha.

6. • (3). ALLAHPUR:
• Situated in district Ghaziabad on the River Hindon near Surana. This site
was excavated in 1966 by National Museum and Delhi University.
• Pd 1- (1 A) - BRW (plain variety), PGW, Slipped ware with iron (800 BC-
300 BC)
• (1 B)- As above and NBPW, PGW new variety with pedestal bowl. Some
unique finds include bone point with iron rod, seal with brahmi inscription of
late Mauryan reads as “Bhadra Palasa”. (800 BC- 300 BC).
• Pd 2- Early Christian era.
• (4). NOH: Situated in district Bharatpur.
• Pd 1- OCP
• Pd 2- BRW (unpainted, plain variety), Black slipped ware
• Pd 3- PGW, BRW and iron is present
• Pd 4- NBPW, PGW, iron and Plain grey ware (6th CBC- 3rd CBC)
• Pd 5- Sunga-Kushana (2nd Cent BC- 3rd Cent. AD)
• Here the earliest date of iron is found to be 1050 BC- 600 BC.

7. • (5). JODHPURA: Situated in district Kotputalli near Jaipur on the River
Sabi. This site was excavated by R. C. Aggrawal in 1972-75.
• Pd 1- OCP [two dates- (2230+- 180) and (2530+- 160)]
• Pd 2- BRW
• Pd 3- BRW, PGW and iron implements found at this level
• Pd 4- NBPW
• Pd 5- Sunga-Kushana
• (6). JAKHERA: Situated in district Etah on the bank of River Kali Nadi and
was excavated by MDN Sahi in 1959-60.
• Pd 1- BRW (plain) and BSW
• Pd 2- (2A) - PGW, BRW with paintings
• (2B)- PGW, Black slipped ware
• Pd 3- NBPW, PGW (600 BC- 300 BC)
• (7). KAUSAMBI: Excavated by G.R. Sharma.
• Pd 1- OCP (1165 BC-885 BC)
• Pd 2- PGW, BRW (885 BC- 605 BC) [upper layer here is found to be having
NBPW and iron is present around 885 BC]
• Pd 3- NBPW (605 BC- 45 BC)
• Pd 4- Saka-Kushana-Gupta (45 BC- 580 AD)

8. • (8). SRINGAVERPURA: Excavated by B.B. Lal.
• Pd 1- OCP (closing 2nd millennium BC)
• [break]
• Pd 2- BRW, BSW, Burnished grey ware, PGW
• Pd 3- NBPW (700 BC- 200 BC )
• Pd 4- Saka-Kushana-Gupta-Rajput-Medieval-British
• (9). SUGHA: This site is near Jakira in Ambala and was excavated by Suraj bhan in
1965-66.
• Pd 1- (1A)- PGW, Grey ware, BSW, copper and iron implements (500 BC- 400 BC)
• (1B)- NBPW, Grey ware, iron, copper, PMC silver coins found (400 BC- 100 BC)
• Pd 2- Early historical period (100 BC- 300 AD)
• * No remains are found after 700 BC. A sealing of Vyagaraja found containing character
“Sugha” in Devnagri (5th-6th C).
• (10). CHIRAND- District Sagar, on the banks of river Ghaggar.
• 5 cultural Period
• Pd I- Neolithic dated around 2000 BC.
• Grey ware, Black ware, Red ware, Copper Bead.
• Cultivation of wheat, rice, barley, masoor.
• Bones of Elephant, Rhinoceros, Buffalo, Ox, Stag, Deer.

9. • Pd II- Chalcolithic
• Pd II a- 1950 – 1650 BC.
• BRW, Grey ware
• Copper objects
• Pd II b- 1650 – 600 BC.
• Black ware
• From upper level iron objects were found
• Pd III- NBPW, PGW, Ahar ware
• Dragger, knives, blade
• Pd IV- Sunga, Kushana
• Pd V- Historical Period
• (11). PRAHALADPUR- District Varanasi, on the right bank of River Ganga
• - A.K. Narayan and T.N Roy in 1963 excavated it
• - It is a single Culture site
• Pd I A- 700 – 500 BC.
• NBPW, Reserved Slip ware, Grey Ware.
• Pd I B- 500 – 160 BC.
• NBPW
• Pd I C - 160 BC. Up to the beginning of Christian era.
• NBPW found but very less

10. • (12). MALAHAR- Situated in District Chandausi
• Excavated in 1995 – 96 by R.K. Tiwari
• Pd I - Pre iron
• - Black and Red Plain
• - 1900 BC.
• - From top of this layer we have iron
• (13). RAJA NAL KA TILA- Excavation site is near Mirzapur on the River
Karmnasa and excavated by R.K Tiwari.
• Pd I- 1700 – 1300 BC.
• BRW plain and painted both
• Pd II- 1300 – 700 BC.
• From the end of the Pd.I we have iron
• BRW, both painted and plain
• Copper objects
• Pd III- 700 – 200 BC.
• NBPW
• Pd IV- Gupta and post Gupta
• (14). JHUSI- Excavated by J.N. Pal and M.C. Gupta Allahabad University
• Pd I: (I A) - Pre NBP, BRW
• - Iron is not present
• - 1500 BC- 700 BC
• I B- Iron was found dating 1100 BC
• - BRW
• Pd II- NBPW

11. • (15). NAGDA- Here BRW played a vital role
• Double edged dragger, Socketed axes, spoon, ring, nails, arrow head, spear
head, knife, sickle etc. are found from this site
• Situated in district Ujjain, on the bank of R. Chambal.
• The mound was 27 m. high
• Pd I- 1000 – 800 BC.
• Chalcolithic
• Copper
• HITUS…….
• Pd II- 750 BC – Pre NBPW
• Chalcolithic features continued
• Tanged, socketed spear head and iron arrow heads has been found
• Pd III- NBPW (500 -200 BC.)
• Knife, Curved Knife, Sickle with curved knife, arrowheads, double edged
dragger, hoes, chisels, nails, bowls, copper antimony rod.
• (16). ERAN- District Sagar, on the banks of R. Bina, tributary of R. Betwa.
• Was excavated by K.D. Vajpyee from 1960 – 65
• Pd I- 2100 – 1700 BC.
• Chalcolithic
• Pd I a- Parallel side blades, lunates, flakes and cores
• stone artefacts
• wheel made pottery
• copper
• Red ware with light to deep slip

12. • Black on red painting
• BRW with White painting
• Grey ware, occasionally painted with red or black colour. It has a very thin
section.
• Shapes are:
• Jar with high neck
• Bowls
• Basins
• Diffusion of PGW and Neolithic Grey ware of South
• 2 broken copper Celts, circular gold pin
• Carnelian, agate, jasper, terracotta
• Humped bull, toy cart, wheel, bangle
• Pd I b- Some new feature can be seen
• Dated 1700 – 1300 BC.
• Mud defence wall has been erected
• Malwa ware, dish on stand
• Pd II a- 700 – 200 BC
• BRW and iron
• NBPW
• Pd II b- 200 BC – 200 AD
• Sunga, Kushana
• 3268 Punch mark coins were also found

13. • (17). AHAR- District Udaipur, on the bank of river Ahar, tributary of R. Banas.
• Mound was cut into 2 due to the river.
• This site was excavated and discovered by R.C. Agrawal in 1961 – 62
• Pd I- Chalcolithic
• - It has 3 sub periods, differentiated on the basis of ceramics.
• Pd I a- 2000 – 1800 BC
• Convex sided bowls of BRW
• Copy of buff slipped ware
• Pd I b- 1800 -1550 BC
• Absence Of Buff ware
• Grey ware, ribbed ware in large quantity
• From top layer iron is found
• Pd I c - 1550 – 1270 BC.
• Sharply carinated bowls in black
• Red ware and lustrous Red ware
• BRW is not the distinctive pottery of this site.
• Plinth of the houses were made of blocks of cist with back and brown silt used
as mortar, well dressed stones on the outer and inner face of the house were
used.
• The rooms were 9 m long
• Orientation of the house was east to west
• Use of chert, chalcedony and quartz
• Copper Celts, rings, bangles, knife, slag
• Terracotta, shell, faience or steatite

14. • Cultivated rice
• Bones of cow, buffalo, goat, sheep, pig, dog, deer, some reptiles and fishes
also.
• Pd II - Early Historical
• Pd II a- 500 to 200 BC
• Close affinity with Rang Mahal ware
• NBPW and grey ware
• Pd II b- Sunga, Kushana period
• Red ware and Micaceous Grey ware
• Pd II c- Medieval period

15. • (18). GILUND- situated in Udaipur, on the banks of R.Banas
• Excavated by Prof. B.B. Lal in 1959-60
• Pd I- 1750 - 500 BC.
• Chalcolithic
• Microliths
• Copper
• Mud brick size 32.5 x 12.5 x 10 cm.
• BRW (painted)
• Black painting on Cream slip
• Animal and Human Figurines
• Humped Bull with long Horns
• Pd II- 500 BC. – 900 AD.
• Lower Ganga Plain: -
• Bihar: Most important sites here are Chirand (Distt Sarhan) dating 1535,
Sonpur (Gaya), Oriup (Bhagalpur), Sahibganj (Gaya), Rajgir (Nalanda),
Jamalpur (Munger). These are all Neolithic sites.