An Ethno archaeological study of Iron technology in Keonjhar district Odisha

Abstract

Odisha is richly endowed with a variety of ferrous and non-ferrous minerals. It is quite rich in iron ore deposits as the Jharkhand- Odisha iron ore belt runs along the northern border of Odisha. It stretches westward from the Gorumahisani mines of Mayurbhanj to the Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts of Odisha and the Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. It belongs to the pre-Cambarian basic and ultrabasic rocks. Odisha, as the other parts of India, was in the mainstream of iron making for several centuries. The local need of iron for making agricultural implements mainly was met by smelting in primitive furnaces, dispersed in many villages in Odisha. Keonjhar district is the main source for the iron ore which reserves approximated as more than 1000 million tones. Till recently, not much was known about the existence of an Iron Age phase in the archaeological culture sequence of Odisha. Despite the fact that a number of important early historic sites were subjected to excavations, in both coastal as well as hinterland Odisha, no clear-cut Post- Chalcolithic horizon was successfully encountered. In the Mahanadi Valley Sisupalgarh and Golbai Sasan are important excavated sites. Other excavated sites like Kumersingha, Kurumpadar, Manmunda and Deuli in Boudh district of Odisha are included here where iron objects, slags and ores were discovered newline