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​Further south: On the Iron Age and the south 


The Iron Age in India has been a subject of fascination and discussion. In the rest of the world, the Iron Age succeeded the Copper-Bronze Age or bridged the gap between the Bronze Age and the Early Historic period. But the situation in India is different: when the region north of the Vindhyas belonged to the pre-iron Chalcolithic or Copper Age, the south, with over 3,000 sites, was associated with iron. Many archaeologists have, generally and conservatively, placed the Iron Age to be in the second millennium BCE. Given this backdrop, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s recent statement, that the origin of iron in the State could be traced to the first quarter of the fourth millennium BCE, is significant as this pushes the antiquity of iron further. After excavations in the mid-Ganga Valley of Uttar Pradesh about 25 years ago, early evidence of iron technology was dated to 1800 BCE. But now, the work in Sivagalai in Tamil Nadu, which was carried out between 2019 and 2022, has made authorities attribute the introduction of iron in the country to the early part of the fourth millennium BCE, even though the period of 2500 BCE-3000 BCE is taken as a mid-range value. This forms the highlight of a study by the State Department of Archaeology (TNSDA), titled “Antiquity of Iron: Recent radiometric dates from Tamil Nadu”. The TNSDA had the scientific dating results of its study validated by renowned institutions such as the Beta Analytic laboratory in the U.S. Mr. Stalin’s observation was made keeping the findings in mind. Early this month, he announced a $1-million prize scheme for deciphering the script of the Indus Valley Civilisation.

The work by the TNSDA should spur new thinking with regard to the strategies to be adopted by archaeologists who are working on the Iron Age of India. They may have to look for more iron-specific sites than copper-cum-iron sites, which will save time, energy and resources. Even though the Tamil Nadu government supports research projects on a wide range of themes in other States, the TNSDA has its constraints with regard to territorial jurisdiction. This underscores the need for complementing Tamil Nadu’s efforts with those of other southern States. The Archaeological Survey of India should take the initiative of bringing the entire southern region under a common fold and enabling well-designed and coordinated work. After all, the idea is to share available resources and expertise in the country to arrive at more reliable findings. At a time when certain forces are increasingly using history and culture as powerful instruments to pursue their political agenda, credible and concrete evidence on the antiquity of the country will naturally put to rest any claim based on baseless assumptions.



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