For over 20 years, archaeologists in the Indian southern state of Tamil Nada have discovered traces of the ancient past of the region.
Their excavations discovered the wound scripts that were rewrite literacy deadlinesMap Naval trade routes connecting India to the world and discovered Advanced urban settlements – Reinforcing the role of the state as the cradle of early civilization and global trade.
Now they have discovered a little older – evidence of what could be the earliest production and use of iron. Today’s Turkey is one of the earliest known regions in which iron was mined, taken out and forged to a significant extent around the 13th century BC.
Archaeologists have discovered iron objects on six sites in Tamil Nadu, dating from 2,953–3.345 BC, or between 5,000 and 5,400 years. This suggests that the process of pulling out, melting, forging and shaping iron to make tools, weapons and other objects could be developed independently on the Indian subcontinent.
“The discovery is of great importance that it will be a little more time before its implications are sinking,” says Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti, a professor of archeology of South Asia at Cambridge University.
The latest discovery of Adichchanallura, Sivagalai, Mayiladumparai, Kilmandi, Mangado and Thelunganur made local titles like “Has Iron started in darkness of hope?” Age indicates a period in which societies began to use and produce iron widely, making tools, weapons and infrastructure.
Parth R Chauhan, professor of archeology at the Indian Institute for Scientific Education and Research, calls for caution before drawing wide conclusions. He believes that Iron technology has probably become “independent of multiple regions.”
“The earliest evidence remains uncertain because many regions of the world have not been properly explored or archeological evidence is known, but not dated correctly.”
If Tamil’s discovery is hopefully further confirmed by a rigorous academic study, “It would surely be classified among the earliest records of the world,” says Mr. Chauhan. Oishi Roy, an archeologist from the Indian Technology Institute (IIT), adds that the finding “suggests a parallel movement [in iron production] in different parts of the world. “
Early iron came in two forms – meteorite and melting. Topical iron, removed from ore, marked the right start to iron technology with mass production. The earliest known iron artifacts – nine tubular beads – are made of meteorite iron, which comes from fallen meteorites.
The recognition of rocks that carry iron is the first challenge. Once they are located, these ores must melt in the stove at extremely high temperatures in order for the metal to single out. Without this procedure, raw iron remains locked in the rock. After extraction, qualified ironsmiths form metal into tools and implementation, marking a key step in the wound of iron.
Most sites in Tamil Nadu where the iron were found are areas are ancient residence near today’s villages. Archaeologists to Rajan and R Sivanantham say the excavators have so far explored a fraction of over 3000 identified graves from the Iron Age containing sarcophagi (stone coffins) and the richness of iron artifacts. In this process, they discovered hoes, spears, knives, arrows, chisels, axes and swords made of iron.
When buried in one place, over 85 iron objects – knives, arrows, rings, chisels, ax and swords – were found inside and outdoor burial. More than 20 key samples are strongly dated to five laboratories around the world, which has confirmed their antiquity.
Some findings are particularly striking.
The Osmund Bopearachchi historian of the French National Center for Scientific Research, based in Paris, emphasizes a key discovery-cellar sword from the funeral, made of Ultra-Visok’s carbon steel and dates from the 13th to 15th centuries BC.
This advanced steel, a direct evolution of the Iron Age metallurgy, required sophisticated knowledge and precise high -temperature processes.
“We know that the first signs of the production of real steel date back to the 13th century BC in today’s Turkey. radioometric dates They seem to prove that the patterns of Tamil are hope earlier, “Mrs. Roy adds that early steel in Tamil hope indicates that people were” iron manufacturers there, not just users – a technologically advanced community that develops with time. ”
Also, at a place called Kodumanal, the excavators found the furnace, pointing to an advanced iron making community.
The furnace area was highlighted with white color change, probably from extreme heat. Near the excavators found iron scissors – some merged to the stove wall – hint of advanced metal processing techniques. Clearly, people in place not only used iron, but actively produced and processed it.
To be sure, digging tamil hope is not the first in India to discover iron. Discovered at least 27 places in eight countries Evidence of an early use of ironSome of the 4,200 years. The last tamil hope of bones push the antique iron for another 400 years, “archaeologist Rajan told me, who is the co -author of the paper on the subject.
“The Iron Age is a technological shift, not an event with one origin – it develops in several places independently,” says Mrs. Roy, noticing earlier discoveries in the eastern, western and northern India.
“What is clear now,” she adds, “is that indigenous iron technology has evolved early on the Indian subcontinent.”
Experts say that excavations in Tamil Nadu are significant and that we can transform our understanding of the iron age and ironing of iron on the Indian subcontinent. Also, “what these digs testify to the existence of a highly sophisticated style of civilization,” notes Nirmala Lakstsman, author of Tamils - a portrait of the community.
However, archaeologists warn that it is still lacking excavation to collect fresh data from all over India. As one expert said, “Indian archeology is in a quiet way outside Tamil Nadu.”
Katragadda Paddadayya, leading an Indian archeologist, said it was “just a starting point”.
“We need to deeper into the origin of iron technology – these findings indicate the beginning, not the conclusion. The key is to use it as a premise, monitor the procedure backwards and identify the places where iron production really started.”
