International Journal of All Research Education and Scientific Methods (IJARESM), ISSN: 2455-6211, Volume 12, Issue 12, December-2024, Available online at: www.ijaresm.com Page | 2218 Pre-Industrial Iron Smelting in Jharkhand, Eastern India: An Anthropo-archaeological Study Rupsa Karmakar 1 , Debasis Kumar Mondal 2 1 Research Student, Department of Anthropology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata ---------------------------------------------------------------****************-------------------------------------------------------- ABSTRACT The invention of iron added a new dimension to the evolution of civilization. Iron replaced the raw materials of earlier tools made from stone, bone, or antlers. Tools made of iron became more effective and easier to use. So, it paved the way for expanding agricultural activities and gradual urbanization. Chotanagpur Plateau in eastern India preserves huge amounts of iron ores that the Early inhabitants of this region first identified. They gradually learned the technology of reducing iron ores in pre-industrial ways. This pre-industrial iron technology played a crucial role in industrial iron production and urbanization. The evidence of iron smelting from Eastern India was found during the Neo-Chalcolithic period. In Eastern India, iron smelting technology with proper furnace management and advanced iron reduction procedures evolved around 700 BCE. Several communities were engaged in iron smelting here: Asur, Agaria,Lohar, Birjia, Kol, and Ho. Iron smelting was a hereditary occupation signifying the ethnic identity of these ancient smelters. The present paper attempts to illustrate the techno-cultural perspectives associated with the pre-industrial iron smelting in Eastern India focusing on the state of Jharkhand. As an anthropo-archaeological study, an attempt has been made to reconstruct the pre-industrial iron smelting technology through the archaeological evidence, and the lives and memories of the descendants of the ancient iron smelters, the Agaria. The industrialization of iron changed a lot in the economy and society of earlier iron smelters and gradually the tradition became marginal because of the availability of industrial iron. Keywords: Agaria, Iron slags, furnace types, Pre-industrialIron smelting technology,Ethnoarchaeology. INTRODUCTION Metallurgy in human history developed because of human curiosity and experimentation. Gordon Childe considered the development of metallurgy as the ―prelude to the urban revolution.‖ The Development of Pyro -technology and the improvement of human skills to control, manipulate, and apply fire with time led to the production of copper at first, then bronze, and Iron objects later over time. The evidence of the first appearance of Iron comes from the Bronze Age cultures of Mesopotamia (Tripathi2008).Tylecote (1962), Charles (1980), Wertime (1980), and Maddin (1982), were renowned archaeometallurgists who concluded that the earliest reported objects of iron in antiquity were bimetallic objects that might have an accidental origin. The embellishment of iron on copper and bronze objects indicated that iron was costly and more precious than gold. The innovation of smelting the native iron ores to produce bloom and transforming bloom into wrought iron by forging to make implements began probably during the third millennium in parts of West Asia. During the second millennium evidence of iron smelting began to occur more widely, consequently what is regarded as the ‗Iron Age‘ probably began before c. 1300 B.C. Neogi (1915) highlighted iron was known in the Vedic age, presenting evidence from the Rigveda suggesting its use between 2000 and 1000 B.C. Wheeler (1959) emphasized the importance of the Iron Age as a turning point in the region's history, setting the stage for future cultural and technological progress. The innovation in iron technology led to a great revolution in the evolution of civilization. The development of iron smelting technology in the Indian subcontinent was a debatable issue until the 1960s (Mohanta2012). Many pioneer archaeologists such as Allchin and Allchin (1968), Gopal (1960), and Banerjee (1965) debated that the iron smelting technology in the Indian subcontinent resulted from diffusion from the west, overlooking the Indigenous production. Several scholars challenged the theories of diffusion regarding iron smelting technology. Chakrabarti (1976) argued that the technology of iron smelting in India was Indigenous based on the radiocarbon dating of some central Indian iron production sites that had shown earlier date than the north-west. Various archaeological and ethnographic evidence now supports the Indigenous development of iron technology in India that was furnished due to the success of ancient copper technology (Hegde1991). Notwithstanding the ample amount of iron ore deposition in the Indian subcontinent which is approximately 60% of the premium iron ores reserves worldwide (Mishra2009), that played a central role in the production of indigenous iron by the ancient iron smelters. In Eastern India, most of the significant archaeological evidence of iron smelting was yielded from Chirand, Mahisdal, PandurajarDhibi, Chandraketugarh, Sitakot, Banagorh, Mangalkot, Hatigra, Bahiri, Barudih, Dhuliapur, Rajghat Sonpur, Kharidih, and Manji. The evidence of iron smelting from Eastern India was found during the Neo-Chalcolithic period and it is