Iron Age and Stone Age

Context:‘

In an announcement that challenges long-held assumptions about the origins of the Iron Age, a new study has found evidence that the use of iron in the area that is now Tamil Nadu dates back to the first quarter of the 4th millennium BCE. This revelation, based on rigorous radiometric dating from multiple international laboratories, positions the region as a pioneering hub of early metallurgy, surpassing global timelines by nearly two millennia.

About the Iron Age

The Iron Age was the third stage after the Stone Age and the Bronze Age that was established between the years 1200 BC and 600 BC depending on location. It was found in Africa, Europe and Asia during prehistoric times. The Americas were not yet discovered so it did not take place within those areas.

• Discovery and Usage of Iron
  • People discovered iron and started to use it highly replacing bronze as the common material for making tools and weapons. The ironworking process started in Turkey and then ironworking spread across Europe and the rest of the world.

Impact on Daily Life

• Farm Tools
  • Iron tools such as the ard (an iron plow) made farming easier than using wooden or bronze plows.
• Weapons
  • Iron swords and weapons spread throughout the armies which enabled armies to gain supremacy in battles.
  • Also used for Hunting.

Stone Ages

• Palaeolithic (Old Stone) Age
  • Cultural Features: The most prominent characteristic was hunting and gathering.
  • Tools: Choppers, hand axes, scrapers, spears, bows, and arrows made from hard rock quartzite. The stone were sharp.
  • Rock Paintings: These are found at Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh, where the main theme is hunting.
• Phases:
  • Lower Palaeolithic (50,000–100,000 BC)
  • Middle Palaeolithic (100,000–40,000 BC)
  • Upper Palaeolithic (40,000–10,000 BC)
• Mesolithic (Middle Stone) Age
  • Transitional Period: This transition marks the period between the Pleistocene and the Holocene period.
  • Cultural Development: Hunting, fishing, and food gathering characterized Early Mesolithic.
  • Domestication: Emergence of domesticated animals.
  • Tools: Microliths, smaller and more geometrically advanced than Palaeolithic tools.
• Neolithic (New Stone) Age
  • Key Features: Food production started, sedentism, use of pottery, and craft inventions.
  • Tools: Heavy ground tools like pestles, grinders, pounders, and also axes and sickles.
• Megalithic Culture
  • Megaliths
    • Large stone structures mainly used for burial or commemorative purposes.
  • Indian Subcontinent
    • Mainly from peninsular India, from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.
  • Time period: Most of the megaliths were built during the Iron Age period, that is 1500-500 BCE; some of them belong to the earlier periods, dated back to 2000 BCE.