Recent excavations in the Middle Ganges Valley have uncovered smelting furnaces and slag deposits that carbon-date to 1800 BCE. This find pushes back the established timeline for the beginning of the Iron Age in India by several centuries.
The data suggests that iron metallurgy may have developed independently in the Indian subcontinent. This early iron production would have revolutionized agriculture and warfare, paving the way for the rise of the first large urban centers in the region.