Posted on 02/06/2025 8:08:09 PM PST by SunkenCiv
The Times of India reports that the dating of charcoal and pottery discovered with iron objects at the burial site of Sivagalai in southern India indicates that the Iron Age began in Tamil Nadu some 5,300 years ago. The testing, including accelerometer mass spectrometry and optically stimulated luminescence dating, was conducted by three different laboratories. It had been previously thought that iron was first worked in the Hittite Empire, in what is now Turkey, around 1380 B.C. “The recent radiocarbon dates indicate that when [the] Indus Valley experienced [the] Copper Age, south India was in [the] Iron Age,” said archaeologist K. Rajan. “In this sense, [the] Iron Age of south India and [the] Copper Age of the Indus were contemporary,” he explained. People living in southern India may have turned to iron, he added, because the amount of copper used by the Indus Valley civilization made copper ore difficult to obtain. The scientists will next analyze the chemical composition of the iron objects, which include knives, arrowheads, rings, chisels, axes, and swords.
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
Actually the earlier view that the Hittite Empire had iron technology appears to have been disproven. Iron-working began after the fall of the Hittite Empire.
Three Hittite-related keywords, sorted:
Oooh, I just got a cold chill, remembering the terrible night the Tinker’s Dam failed...
My take on widespread pyramid building is that without modern engineering, the only way to build large tall buildings is something like the pyramids with progressively smaller layers. That said I am a believer in pre Columbian contact. I just don’t think that pyramids per se are evidence of that
I asked perplexity ai about gene flows into pre columbian America. This was the answer.
Genetic studies of pre-Columbian America indeed show evidence of gene flow from Siberia and, to a lesser extent, from populations with Australasian (Melanesian) ancestry.
The primary migration from Siberia occurred around 23,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age. An international team analyzed genomes of ancient and modern Native Americans, concluding that the first Americans arrived in a single wave from Siberia no more than 23,000 years ago6. This Siberian ancestry forms the foundation of Native American genetics.
Interestingly, some studies have also detected traces of Australasian ancestry in certain ancient South American populations. A 10,400-year-old individual from Lagoa Santa in Brazil showed evidence of Australasian genetic signatures1. This finding is puzzling, as it appears to have “leaped over” North America, and the exact mechanism of this genetic contribution remains unclear.
Additionally, more recent gene flow from Siberia has been documented:
A migration around 4,000 years ago into North America3.
Another migration between 1,000-800 years ago, contributing to the contemporary gene pool in northern North America3.
These later migrations added to the genetic diversity of Native American populations but did not replace the existing populations entirely. Instead, they mixed with local communities, creating a complex genetic landscape1.
It’s important to note that while these genetic studies provide valuable insights into ancient migrations, they also raise new questions and hypotheses that require further research to fully understand the intricate history of human movement in the Americas.
Whether or not there were migrations into India, the word “Aryan” has been misused badly in discussions. The word is of Sanskrit origin and was limited to usage by one particular tribe of the numerous tribes in India -the Bharatas (from whom India’s other name of Bharat is derived). The word Aryan (meaning noble) was almost exclusively used by them to refer to themselves, though they occasionally did extend it to others (mentioned in Rig veda, the most ancient holy book of Hinduism - before 1500 BCE). As time passed and their cultural influence spread, more people called themselves Aryans including their enemies-the ancient Iranianians (The word Iran means the land of the Aryans). A large part of northern India was called Aryavarta - the home of the Aryans.All the oldest usages of the word Aryan are from Hindu scriptures, starting from the oldest book-the Rig veda.
Even today, the word Aryan is used to describe Sanskrit and all the languages derived from it (known as the Indo-Aryan languages). No people outside of the India-Iranian region have historically used or been called Aryans.
Agree. The word “Aryan” has been misused.
The people who invaded northern India were Herders from the Steppe—in what is now roughly Ukraine. They stood head and shoulders taller than everyone else from Europe to Asia. They were the first horse riders and the first charriot riders and maybe the first to use hammer maces in battle. I’ve read recently that much of the copper from the bronze age came from areas around the Ukraine. From my readings, they destroyed all prior vultures they encountered from the Indus valley to Stonehenge in England.
The people in India at the time of the invasions of the steppe people—were a mix of farmers from the middle east who came to India in roughly the 5th millenium bc...—and hunter gathereres.
The people of Europe were also a mix of western hunter gatherers and farmers from the middle east —who came there also in the +-5 millenium bc
The big difference between Europe and India vis a vis these steppe herders was that the steppe herders continued to mix with the locals in Europe. But they stopped mixing in India about 2000 years ago. The north half of india has more steppe herder dna than the southern half of india. Among the castes of India —the Brahmans have the highest amount of steppe herder dna.
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