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Ironmaking at Hastinapur Archaeological Site from 8th Century BCE to 16th Century CE


Affiliations
1 Archaeological Survey of India, Bhubaneswar 751 002, India
2 Bureau of Indian Standards, Kolkata 700 091, India
3 Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, Howrah 711 103, India

Hastinapur is one of the prominent painted grey ware archaeological sites in the Ganga Valley. In the present communication, we report the results of the metallurgical analysis of the excavated slag samples from the site. The existence of a large number of iron objects for this site can be dated between c. 6th century bce and c. 16th century ce, with early iron from the 8th century bce. The morphological, microstructural and elemental studies of the excavated slag indicate a high amount of carbon in iron, indicating crucible carburization activities at this site. In addition, the presence of niobium, cobalt, etc. in the slag indicates the usage of non-traditional iron ores in the primary ironmaking stage.

Keywords

Ancient iron technology, archaeometallurgy, iron slag, metallography
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Abstract Views: 168




  • Ironmaking at Hastinapur Archaeological Site from 8th Century BCE to 16th Century CE

Abstract Views: 168  | 

Authors

Dibishada Brajasundar Garnayak
Archaeological Survey of India, Bhubaneswar 751 002, India
Siva Sankar Panda
Archaeological Survey of India, Bhubaneswar 751 002, India
Mainak Gantait
Bureau of Indian Standards, Kolkata 700 091, India
Rajan Kumar Verma
Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, Howrah 711 103, India
Gautam Anand
Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, Howrah 711 103, India

Abstract


Hastinapur is one of the prominent painted grey ware archaeological sites in the Ganga Valley. In the present communication, we report the results of the metallurgical analysis of the excavated slag samples from the site. The existence of a large number of iron objects for this site can be dated between c. 6th century bce and c. 16th century ce, with early iron from the 8th century bce. The morphological, microstructural and elemental studies of the excavated slag indicate a high amount of carbon in iron, indicating crucible carburization activities at this site. In addition, the presence of niobium, cobalt, etc. in the slag indicates the usage of non-traditional iron ores in the primary ironmaking stage.

Keywords


Ancient iron technology, archaeometallurgy, iron slag, metallography



DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv126%2Fi11%2F