A new study says Iron Age began hundreds of years earlier – in Tamil Nadu. Why this is important

Unveiling the findings Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said past of the Indian subcontinent tin nary longer place Tamil Nadu. “It must, successful fact, statesman here,” helium said Thursday.

The findings, which supply grounds that iron exertion successful Tamil Nadu dates arsenic acold backmost arsenic 3345 BCE, are supported by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) analyses conducted connected samples from archaeological sites specified arsenic Sivagalai, Adichanallur, Mayiladumparai, and Kilnamandi.

Three types of iron-smelting furnaces were identified astatine Kodumanal, Chettipalayam, and Perungalur, showcasing aboriginal innovations successful extracting iron.

Until recently, the Iron Age successful India was believed to person emerged betwixt 1500 and 2000 BCE, intimately pursuing the Indus Valley Civilisation. However, caller information from Tamil Nadu pushes this timeline further back. A paddy illustration from a burial urn successful Sivagalai was dated to 1155 BCE, portion charcoal and potsherds (broken pieces of ceramic material) from the aforesaid tract provided dates ranging from 2953 BCE to 3345 BCE, making it the earliest recorded grounds of robust exertion globally.

At Mayiladumparai, samples were dated to 2172 BCE, surpassing earlier benchmarks of robust usage successful the region. Kilnamandi, meanwhile, yielded a sarcophagus burial dated to 1692 BCE, marking a important milestone arsenic the earliest-dated burial of its benignant successful Tamil Nadu.

Experts consulted successful the survey observed that this find is simply a turning constituent successful Indian archaeology. It besides establishes that Tamil Nadu was not simply a subordinate successful the improvement of metallurgy but an innovator, arsenic the smelted robust findings person been dated to the mediate of the 3rd millennium BCE for the archetypal clip successful the world, altering the knowing of planetary taste trajectories.

Rajan and Sivanantham, the authors of the report, hypothesised that the Copper Age of bluish India and the Iron Age of confederate India whitethorn person been contemporaneous, suggesting a unsocial taste trajectory southbound of the Vindhyas.

“When taste zones located northbound of Vindhyas experienced the Copper Age, the portion southbound of Vindhyas mightiness person entered into the Iron Age owed to the constricted availability of commercially exploitable copper ore. Thus, the Copper Age of North India and the Iron Age of South India are astir apt contemporary. Future excavations and technological dates whitethorn further clarify oregon fortify the quality of the instauration of robust successful India,” the study said.

Archaeological sites successful Tamil Nadu besides revealed varied metallurgical techniques. Three types of iron-smelting furnaces were identified astatine Kodumanal, Chettipalayam, and Perungalur, showcasing aboriginal innovations successful extracting iron. Kodumanal’s circular furnaces, for instance, reached temperatures of 1,300°C, capable to nutrient sponge iron. These findings item the region’s technological sophistication successful producing durable robust tools and weapons.

Authors of the survey judge that these furnaces exemplify an precocious knowing of pyro-technology. The study said, “…this has opened up the taxable for an interdisciplinary survey connected pyro-technology, elemental composition, isotope, metallurgical, furnace engineering, invention and innovations, and experimental survey to bring the Iron Age Civilisation of South India to the world syllabuses.”

Globally, the Iron Age has agelong been attributed to the Hittite Empire successful Anatolia, wherever robust exertion is believed to person emerged astir 1300 BCE. However, the Tamil Nadu findings situation this.

Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti, Professor Emeritus of South Asian Archaeology astatine Cambridge University, emphasised the planetary implications of the discovery. “The find is of specified a large value that it volition instrumentality immoderate much clip earlier its accusation sinks in. My archetypal effect is that immoderate Harappan sites of the play should incorporate robust and that the study of robust from the Harappan discourse astatine Lothal makes logical consciousness successful airy of the contiguous discoveries,” helium said.

Unveiling the report, CM Stalin has announced initiatives to found museums astatine Keeladi and Gangaikondacholapuram to sphere and beforehand Tamil Nadu’s archaeological heritage.

The survey explains that the radical successful the country mastered the analyzable exertion of smelting iron, which requires temperatures betwixt 1,200°C and 1,400°C, arsenic acold backmost arsenic 5,300 years ago. T N Udhayachandran, Commissioner of Archaeology, who was the serviceman astatine the forefront of excavations by the authorities archaeology department, said they are gladsome to spot this caller grounds to the world satellite for their scrutiny.

“I bash anticipation the world assemblage volition work the monograph ‘Antiquity of Iron – Recent Radiometric Dates from Tamil Nadu’ with a captious caput and supply encouraging words and constructive suggestions for the aboriginal people of action,” helium said.