| History of South Asia |
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| Iron Age |
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In the prehistory of the Indian subcontinent, the Iron Age succeeded Bronze Age India and partly corresponds with the megalithic cultures of India. Other Iron Age archaeological cultures of India were the Painted Grey Ware culture (1300–300 BCE)[1] and the Northern Black Polished Ware (700–200 BCE). This corresponds to the transition of the Janapadas or principalities of the Vedic period to the sixteen Mahajanapadas or region-states of the early historic period, culminating in the emergence of the Maurya Empire towards the end of the period.
The earliest evidence of iron smelting predates the emergence of the Iron Age proper by several centuries.[2]
- ^ Uesugi, Akinori, (2018). "An Overview on the Iron Age in South Asia", in (ed.) Akinori Uesugi, Iron Age in South Asia, Kansai University, Fig. 6, pp. 9-12
- ^ "the date of the beginning of iron smelting in India may well be placed as early as the sixteenth century BC [...] by about the early decade of thirteenth century BCE iron smelting was definitely known in India on a bigger scale" Rakesh Tewari (2003), The origins of Iron-working in India: New evidence from the Central Ganga Plain and the Eastern Vindhyas. Archaeology Online