Brief Notes on The Iron Age of Ancient India

By the end of the Chalcolithic period, the rural settlements had come up in all parts of India. However, the major changes in the material culture were brought about with the use of iron. The ‘Iron Age’ in the world context began about 1300 BC.

Its use in India also began around this period. But Gordon could find no evidence for the use of iron in India before 250 BC and Wheeler thought that the knowledge was introduced by Achaemenides in 500 BC however Banerjee held that Iron working began as early as 1000 BC and became common around 800 BC.

We have evidence of Iron at Pirak belonging to c. 1000 BC, at Mundigak and in the graves of Gandhara (1000 BC). At Timargarha, an iron cheek piece was found. In south India also Iron appeared around 1000 BC in Dharwar district of Karnataka. Some believe that it spread from that region, even though it was known in the northern regions as well. The evidence regarding use of Iron comes from

Punjab, northern Rajasthan and the Ganga-Yamuna Doab this period is known as the later Vedic Age. In this age we have archaeological as well as literary evidence of iron use on a considerable scale.

In recent years this Iron Age has been associated with Painted Grey Ware, first isolated as deluxe ware at Ahichatra and later at Hastinapur. The distribution of this ware extends from the dry bed of the Ghaggar in Bahawalpur and north Rajasthan, eastward across the watershed of the Ganga and the Indus to the Ganga-Yamuna Doab. Sites such as Rupar, Kurukshetra, Panipat, Indraprastha (Purana Qila), Mathura, Bairat, Sonepat, Atranjikhera and Alamgirpur have yielded this ware.

Allchins have questioned the use of the terms like ‘Painted Grey Ware Period’ or ‘Painted Grey Ware People’ as they were not entirely different from the late Harappans. The PGW sequence apparently comes after ‘Ochre Coloured Pottery’ traditions followed by ‘Black and Red Burnished Ware’. The date for the second type is c. 1100-900 BC. After this period the PGW becomes common.

This sequence is evident at Noh and Jodpura in Rajasthan and Atranjikhera, Lai Qila and Jakhera in UP. The suggested date is c. 900- 500 BC. The earliest date of iron in this region comes from Atranjikhera and the date is c. 1150 BC. Since most of the excavations of these sites have been exploratory, the occupation levels have not been studied. Secondly, subsequent continuity of settlements created problems in this regard.

At Jakhera, apart from wheat, barley, rice, cattle, pig and horse a large number of Iron implements have been discovered. The most frequently reported finds are arrowheads (both barbed and leaf-shaped) and spearheads. Axes with shaft hole are reported from Noh and Atranjikhera. Atranjikhera has also yielded iron tongs.

At Hastinapur copper objects have been unearthed apart from glass beads and bangles, bone disc etc. At Atranjikhera iron tools include arrow and spearheads, chisels, axes and knives. Copper seem to be less common and includes antimony rods, nail parers, pins, bangles, fish-hooks and dishes.

Bone arrowhead and points are also common. Bangles of glass, terracotta and faience are also reported. Till now around 725 PGW sites have been counted. Some of the main excavated sites are Ahichhatra, Alamgirpur, Allahpur, Atranjikhera Hastinapur, Khaloa, Mathura, Ropar, Sardargarh, Shravasti, Noh, Kainpila and Jakhera. Atranjikhera and. Noh have yielded the impressions of cloth.

In Central Indian Malwa region and South­eastern Rajasthan, the beginning of Iron Age is not very clear. M.D.N. Sahi recovered a dozen iron objects along with iron slag from the upper layers of period I at Ahar which suggested that the first introduction of iron took place around 1500 BC.

However, since at all the other sites in this region there appears to be a long hiatus between the end of the Chalcolithic period and the Iron age occupation such as of eight centuries at Prabhas Patan (Somnath) the above date must be treated very cautiously. At Nagda, in period II some Iron objects appear with black-and-red ware. At Ujjain period 1, the objects included a sherd of PGW, iron arrowheads and spearheads as well as bone arrowheads.

At Eran, three radiocarbon dates are available for iron using layer, 1400 BC, 1270 BC and 1239 BC. According to D.K- Chakrabarti iron using layer at Nagda cannot be posterior to 1100 BC whereas N.R. Banerjee thinks it to be of 800 BC. This is the date of the beginning of the use of iron at Mahisadal as well where we have evidence of local iron-workings.

In the Deccan the first iron objects appear after late Jorwe Chalcolithic phase (c.900-800 BC). The sites such Chandoli, Inamgaon, Prakash etc. show no hiatus between this phase and the iron phase. However, no radiocarbon dates are available for the beginning of the Iron Age. At Prakash, in the Tapi valley, iron appears at the beginning of the NBP phase and the iron tools include the flat cell-like axes and shaft-hole axes. Similar evidence comes from Bahal along with the related burial sites at Tekwada.

In the Karnataka region, excavations at Brahmagiri, Piklihal, Sanganakallu, Maski, Hallur and Paiyampalli show that iron was introduced at the close of the Neolithic-Chalcolithic period. The earliest phase of the Iron Age is identified at Piklihal and Hallur. The Radiocarbon dates from Hallur suggest that this period may have started as early as 1150-1030 BC.

Another important culture trait associated with the Iron Age is variously known as Burial complex of the South Indian Iron Age, Megalithic Complex, and Pandukal Complex etc. These Iron Age graves are present in a wide area, to be precise throughout most parts of the Peninsula in which granite and gneiss are the predominant rocks.

Although the distribution is denser in the Peninsula we have some evidence of such burial sites even outside this region, such as Baluchistan, Waghadur, Shah Billawal, Leh valley, Burjahom, Gufkral, Deos’a (Rajasthan), Khera (UP), Kotia (Allahabad), Banda, Mirzapur, Kakoria (Varanasi), Saraikhola (Singhbhum), Assam, Bastar etc. A noteworthy feature concerning Megaliths is, however, the paucity of habitation sites of a comparable related culture.

The economy that characterizes the Megalithic culture in Peninsular India is reflected by the find of grains and artefacts. As regards cereals, sites in the Vidarbha area (Naikunda and Bhagimahari) have yielded remains of common pea, black gram, wheat, lentil, Indian jujube and barley. In Tamilnadu, Paiyampalli yielded remains of charred grains of gram, green gram and ragi and Adichannallur, remains of paddy husk / rice and millet seeds.

From sites in Karnataka (Fraserpet and Koppa) came the evidence of paddy husk. Rice perhaps formed the principal cereal crop of the southern region as against wheat and barley of the Vidardbha and northern Deccan. On the basis of the number of agricultural tools like sickles and hoes, it has been postulated that the Megalithic people did not practise agriculture on a settled scale but led a pastoral life (B.K. Thapar).

The diagnostic traits of the Megalithic culture include a ceramic known as the Black-and-Red ware and a plentiful use of iron. Four other associated ceramics are: All-Black Ware, Red Ware, Micaceous Red Ware, and Russet-coated painted ware. On some of the potteries graffiti similar to Harappan graffiti occur. The range of iron objects include swords, daggers, barbed and plain arrowheads, lances, flanged spears, flat iron axes with cross bands, chisels, frying pans, saucers, ladles, lamps, tridents, nails, sickles, hoes etc.

The equipment for horses included bridle pits, snaffle bits, and barbed bits with looped ends. At Mahurjhari a head ornament of a horse made of copper sheets with iron-riveted knobs stitched over leather has been found. At Khapa a head ornament of a horse, for mounting on a leather base, has also been reported. People lived in circular houses, had some gold ornaments and bangles and beads of glass and constructed megalithic funerary monuments.

This culture merges into the Sangam period. The introduction of iron weapons and the horse seems to have been the key factor in its diffusion. It appears that the Iron Age peoples of the south were Dravidian speakers of different groups.