Archaeometallurgy of Iron in and around Manpur, Salumber-Manpur-Ghatol Sector, Udaipur District, Rajasthan

Abstract The Palaeoproterozoic Aravalli Fold Belt and Mesoproterozoic Delhi Fold Belt, altogether make the Aravalli mountain range (AMR), which extends from Delhi in the north to Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh in the south, thus, it divides the state territory of Rajasthan into two distinctive regions-Thar Desert in the west and Vindhyan Plateau in the east. The AMR not only provided shelter to early human beings but also its valuable minerals gave them the opportunity to enhance their mining and metallurgical skills, which paved the path for the development of metal-based cultures in and around the AMR. More than one hundred and forty metallurgical sites alongwith old workings have been spotted so far, in the different mineralized zones of AMR. The study area of Salumber-Manpur-Ghatol sector in Udaipur district of Rajasthan, bears the similar features of ancient mining and metallurgical activities, especially for iron, the most common metal in pre-medieval. Occurrence of ferruginous capping, deep underground ancient workings with vertical opening and presence of slag heaps with tuyères and cylindrical blast furnaces indicate ancient mining activity in the area. The presence of tuyères, considered as a part of the bellows system, indicates that metallurgical activities took place in the medieval period. It is an endeavour to record the traditional scientific knowledge, acquired by early people in the field of mining and metallurgy, on the basis of irrefutable evidence, yielded in the form of old workings and slag in the study area.