Was the iron age ‘start’ in India? Tamil Nadu Dig Sparks Debate

For more than 20 years, archaeologists in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, India have detected a clue for the ancient past of the region.

His Digs has exposed the initial script Relax the literacy deadlineMapped Marine trade route Connecting India to the world and discovered Advanced urban settlements – To strengthen the role of the state as a cradle of early civilization and global commerce.

Now they have also exposed some old – what can happen and use iron as soon as possible. The present Turkish is one of the first known areas where iron mining was done, and was forged on a significant scale around the 13th century BC.

Archaeologists have discovered iron items on six sites in Tamil Nadu, dating between 2,953–3,345 BC or between 5,000 and 5,400 years. This shows that the process of removing, smelting, forging and shaping iron to create equipment, weapons and other items can develop independently in the Indian subcontinent.

Dilip Kumar Chakraborty, a professor of South Asian archeology at the University of Cambridge, says, “The discovery is of such a great importance that Dilip Kumar Chakraborty, a professor of South Asian archeology at the University of Cambridge, says Dilip Kumar Chakraborty.

The latest conclusions of Adichchanallur, Sivagalai, Mayiladumparai, Kilnamandi, Mangadu and Thelganur sites have created local headlines such as “Is Iron’s age began in Tamil Nadu?” The age marks a period when societies began to use and produce iron widely, making equipment, weapons, and infrastructure.

Partha R Chauhan, a professor of archeology at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (ISSER), urged to take precautions before making a wide conclusion. They believe that the possibility of iron technology emerged “independently in many areas”.

Furthermore, “Initial evidence is uncertain because many regions of the world have not been properly researched or archaeological evidence is known, but they are not properly dated”.

If the discovery of Tamil Nadu is made more valid through rigorous academic studies, “it will definitely rank in the early records of the world”, Sri Chauhan says. Osh Roy, an archaeologist of Isser, says “parallel growth (in iron production) in different parts of the world”.

The early iron came into two forms – meteorite and strangled. The iron extracted from the ores, marking the correct beginning of iron technology with mass production. The first known iron artifacts – nine tubular beads – meteorites were made of iron, which comes from fallen meteorites.

Identification of iron-bearing rocks is the first challenge. Once located, these ores must be strangled into a furnace at extremely high temperatures to remove the metal. Without this process, the raw iron remains closed within the rock. After extraction, skilled iron sizes the metal in equipment and devices, which mark an important step in the initial ironwork.

Most sites in Tamil Nadu where iron have been found are ancient residence areas near the current villages. Rajan and R. Shivnantam of archaeologists say that excavators have so far have a part of the tombs of the iron era identified with more than 3,000 identified with the tombs of sarco -sarcofigation (stone coffins) and iron artifacts. In this process, he highlighted swords made of hoe-blowing, spears, knives, arrows, chisels, axes and iron.

Excavated at a site, more than 85 iron items – knives, arrows, rings, chisels, axes and swords – were found inside and outside the buried urn. More than 20 major samples were strongly dated in five laboratories around the world, which confirm their antiquity.

Find some are particularly striking.

Osmond Bopiachchi, a historian at Paris-based French National Center for Scientific Research, highlighted a major discovery-an iron sword from a burial site, made of ultra-high-carbon steel and dating in the 13th-15th century BCE.

It requires advanced steel, direct development of iron age metallurgy, essential sophisticated knowledge and accurate high temperature processes.

“We know that the first signs of the date of real steel production in the present Türkiye in the 13th century BC. The 13th century BC. Radiometric date To prove that Tamil Nadu samples are earlier, “he said. Ms. Roy says the initial steel in Tamil Nadu indicates that” Iron makers were, not only users – a technically advanced community was developing over time “.

In addition, in a site called Kodumanel, excavators found a furnace, pointing to an advanced iron -making community.

The furnace area was standing out with its white disintegration, the possibility of excessive heat. Nearby, excavators found iron slag – some of it connected to the furnace wall – pointing to advanced metal techniques. Apparently people on the site were not only using iron, but actively producing and processing it.

To ensure this, Tamil Nadu excavations are not the first to expose iron in India. At least 27 sites in eight states have revealed Evidence of initial iron useSome dating 4,200 years. The latest Tamil Nadu Digs pushed the antiquity of Indian iron back to another 400 years, “archaeologist Rajan, who co-written a paper on the subject, told me.

“Iron edge is a technical change, not a single original event – it develops independently in many places,” says Ms. Roy, keeping in mind the first discoveries in eastern, western and northern India.

“What is clear now,” she says, “is that indigenous iron technology developed early in the Indian subcontinent.”

Experts say excavation in Tamil Nadu is important and can reopen our understanding of the iron era and iron smelting in the Indian subcontinent. Furthermore, “What is the testimony of these diges, for the existence of a specific sophisticated style of civilization,” The author of The Tamils ​​Nirmala Laxman said – a picture of a community.

However, archaeologists take precautions that there is still a lack of excavation to collect fresh data from all over India. As an expert said, “Indian archaeological is in silent mode outside Tamil Nadu.”

Katragadda Padya, a prominent Indian archaeologist, said it was “just the initial point”.

“We need to be depth in the origin of iron technology – these conclusions mark the beginning, not the conclusion. The key is to use it as a base, the process is backward and identify the sites where the production of iron actually started.”