Early Metal in South India: Copper and Iron in Megalithic Contexts

Roberts, Benjamin W.; Thornton, Christopher P.; Gullapalli, Praveena

doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-9017-3_25

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…1200-1000 B.C.) (Agrawal et al 1990: 219-229;Mudhol 1997: 61;Gullapalli 2009). Iron Age smiths also understood tempering and quenching techniques and the effects of differential carburization (the incorporation of small proportions of carbon into iron to produce steel) on the strength and flexibility of finished objects (Agrawal et al 1990;Mudhol 1997).…”

Section: Iron Production and Consumption During The South Indian Ironmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Iron is recognized as a critical material element of economy and society during the South Indian Iron Age (1200-300 B.C.) (Allchin and Allchin 1982;Bannerjee 1965;Brubaker 2001;Leshnik 1974;Moorti 1994;Tripathi 2001), yet the regional organization and social relations of iron production are understudied (Gullapalli 2009). Archaeological data suggest that the capacity of some members of certain Iron Age societies to incorporate iron objects such as weapons, tools, and paraphernalia in mortuary rituals was an important source of power for the living, particularly in defining important social differences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Early ironworking in Iron Age South India: New evidence for the social organization of production from northern Karnataka

Johansen

2014

Journal of Field Archaeology

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Iron production was integral to political and ritual practices during the South Indian Iron Age (ca. 1200-300 B.C.), yet the investigation of the social relations of metals production during this period has been overshadowed by studies of iron consumption, particularly of iron objects in megalithic mortuary contexts. Recent archaeological research in the Tungabhadra River Corridor, Karnataka, has revealed iron production debris within and between settlements in more ephemeral occupational contexts, such as rockshelters. One notable discovery is the earliest ironworking facility in South India at Bukkasagara. The regional pattern suggests that iron production involved at least two classes of specialist producerssmelters and smiths-who exercised varying degrees of control over the practice and products of their craft. It also suggests that iron production was an important component in the construction and negotiation of Iron Age social differences, affiliations, and inequalities.

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Section: Iron Production and Consumption During The South Indian Ironmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Early ironworking in Iron Age South India: New evidence for the social organization of production from northern Karnataka

Johansen

2014

Journal of Field Archaeology

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“…By at least 1200 BCE, the social and material landscapes of northern Karnataka's agropastoral communities were undergoing significant changes, which began over the course of several hundred years during the terminal phase of the South Indian Neolithic period (c. 1800-1200 BCE). In association with these changes, archaeologists have documented the production of a suite of new slipped and polished ceramic wares, with an increasing emphasis on small serving vessels, and the growing displacement of lithic tools and technologies by those of locally produced iron and, later, steel production (Gullapalli 2009;Johansen 2014a;Morrison, Reddy, and Kashyap 2015;Sinopoli 2009). Iron Age agro-pastoralists raised a variety of grains, pulses, and livestock, including cattle, sheep, and goat.…”

Section: The South Indian Iron Age: Politics and Resource Assemblagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Matter of Resources and Techno‐Politics: The Case of Water and Iron in the South Indian Iron Age

Johansen

Bauer

2018

American Anthropologist

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Water management and iron production were two socio-technical practices deeply entrained with the politics of emerging social distinctions in northern Karnataka during the South Indian Iron Age (1200-300 BCE). In this article, we approach resources by building a theoretical convergence between -resource materialities‖ and -techno-politics,‖ which allows us to assess the historically specific constitution of certain materials as culturally valued resources while maintaining analytical attention on how assemblages of technical practices and active material properties shape social conditions. By differentially anticipating and responding to the social and material distributions of a range of dynamic matter (for example, granitic rock, iron ores, bloom, and metal, water, soils, and vegetated terraces), Iron Age peoples transformed substances into resources and simultaneously produced a historically unique political sociology of resource relations. Our approach dissolves the processual distinction between natural resource and cultural product and directs attention to how substances become resources through ongoing historical articulations of humans and nonhumans in contexts oriented by cultural values. Contrasting the material properties and distributions of iron and water resource assemblages allows us to more fully understand the distinctiveness of different forms of techno-politics and resource relations within the same cultural and historical context. [resource materialities, techno-politics, resource assemblage, entrainment, South Indian Iron Age]

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“…Only small patches of natural deciduous evergreen forest remained, protected through the ages by the people for religious and cultural reasons (sacred groves), providing evidence that the plateau must once have been covered by forest (Bor, ; Tiwari, Barik, & Tripathi, ). Metallurgical tradition was also accompanied by the erection of megalithic memorial monuments (Godwin‐Austen, ; Gullapalli, ).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Conversion of traditional shifting cultivation to intensive sedentary swidden cultivation in recent decades (Mishra & Ramakrishnan, ) shows rare human adaptation to limited land and forest resources while retaining elements of shifting cultivation, such as slash and burn management (Dubey & Sah, ; Tiwari, ). Conversion of iron ore extraction and processing to boulder extraction for constructions since the mid‐19th century (Prokop & Suliga, ) retains elements of the exceptional megalithic erection custom inherited from the Iron Age (Fergusson, ; Gullapalli, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geomorphological and sedimentological indicators of land degradation (Meghalaya Plateau, NE India)

2018

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Replacement of forests by cultivation in hilly regions can dramatically increase overland flow and soil erosion, frequently resulting in land degradation. This study aimed to determine the impact of long‐term human activity and natural geomorphic processes in land degradation of 2 catchments located in the Meghalaya Plateau in northeast India. Both catchments are built by deeply weathered granites with hilly topography but have contrasting land uses. Forested catchment (1.5 ha) is covered by natural deciduous forest, whereas deforested catchment (3.5 ha) is affected by slash and burn cultivation and boulder extraction. Detailed geomorphological mapping and sediment pattern analysis revealed a complex anthropogenic role in land degradation. Human activity contributes directly to the creation of new landforms in the deforested catchment and indirectly by influencing the course and intensity of geomorphological processes, masking the pre‐existing natural relief. Discontinuous agricultural terraces, zero‐order valleys, and furrows created coexisting cascade system and direct connectivity of water and sediment transport within the same slope. Higher content of fine‐grained material and lower content of boulders in the deforested catchment reflect overlapping of 2 traditional occupations of the local population: agriculture and selective boulders extraction, respectively. Human activity combined with accelerated erosion of abundant weathered material led to the transformation of incised valley bottom into flat accumulation plain as well as the extension and aggradation of the alluvial fan. This process increased the proportion of flat landforms favourable for cultivating the deforested catchment under growing population pressure.

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Early Metal in South India: Copper and Iron in Megalithic Contexts

Cited by 4 publications

References 13 publications

Early ironworking in Iron Age South India: New evidence for the social organization of production from northern Karnataka

Early ironworking in Iron Age South India: New evidence for the social organization of production from northern Karnataka

On the Matter of Resources and Techno‐Politics: The Case of Water and Iron in the South Indian Iron Age

Geomorphological and sedimentological indicators of land degradation (Meghalaya Plateau, NE India)

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