Racindia

Map of early Iron Age Vedic India (ca. 9th c. BC). ealms or tribes are labelled black, non-Indo-Aryan tribes mentioned in early Vedic texts purple, Vedic shakhas in green. Rivers are labelled blue. The Thar desert is marked orange.

History of South Asia

(Indian Subcontinent)

Stone Age
before 3300 BCE

Mature Harappan
2600–1700 BCE

Late Harappan
1700–1300 BCE

Iron Age
1200–300 BCE

Maurya Empire
• 321–184 BCE

Middle Kingdoms
230 BCE–1279 CE

Satavahana
• 230 BCE–220 CE

Gupta Empire
• 280–550 CE

Islamic Sultanates
1206–1596

Mughal Empire
1526–1707

Sikh Confederacy
1716-1849

British India
1858–1947

Modern States
since 1947

Timeline

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The Iron Age in the Indian subcontinent succeeds the Late Harappan (Cemetery H) culture, also known as the last phase of the Indus Valley Tradition. The cultures of the Punjab and Rajasthan in this phase spread eastward across the Gangetic plain. For this reason, the succession of Iron Age cultures of northern India and Pakistan are also known as the Indo-Gangetic Tradition.

The Painted Gray Ware culture (ca 1200-800 BCE) and the Northern Black Polished Ware culture (ca 700-300 BCE) belong to the “Regionalization Era” of the Indo-Gangetic Tradition. This corresponds to the later phase of the Vedic period and Mahajanapadas and the rise of the Maurya Empire. Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka the Great belong to this period.

The earliest Iron Age site in South India is Hallur.

India enters the classical period from the 6th century BC with the births of Mahavira and Gautama Buddha, followed by the Sanskrit grammar of Panini, the Edicts of Ashoka, and the emerging Middle kingdoms of India.

References

• Kenoyer, J.M. 1998 Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. Oxford University Press and American Institute of Pakistan Studies, Karachi.
• Kenoyer, J. M. 1991a The Indus Valley Tradition of Pakistan and Western India. In Journal of World Prehistory 5(4): 331-385.
• Kenoyer, J. M. 1995a Interaction Systems, Specialized Crafts and Culture Change: The Indus Valley Tradition and the Indo-Gangetic Tradition in South Asia. In The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity, edited by G. Erdosy, pp. 213-257. Berlin, W. DeGruyter.
• Shaffer, J. G. 1992 The Indus Valley, Baluchistan and Helmand Traditions: Neolithic Through Bronze Age. In Chronologies in Old Worlsfgagd Archaeology (3rd Edition), edited by R. Ehrich, pp. 441-464. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.

See also

• Kingdoms of ancient India
• Mahajanapadas
• Maurya Empire
• Iron Age China

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Categories: Ancient India | History of India | History of Pakistan | Iron Age