Smelting and smithing: The organization of iron production in Early Historic southeastern Rajasthan

The characterization of South Asia as "subcontinental unity within regional diversity" (Allchin and Allchin 1982:347) highlights the challenges in developing one narrative that is applicable to the entire subcontinent. This is often true of broadly defined regions within South Asia as well as time periods. It is argued that southeastern Rajasthan may offer a contrasting framework to the dominant one proposed for the early history of northern India. The cultural development of southeastern Rajasthan is best understood within a more local context that challenges homogenizing explanations.;Northern India during the first millennium BC underwent a number of significant changes, including the emergence of the 'second urbanization' of the South Asian subcontinent. This transformation has captured the attention of both historians and archaeologists who have attempted to define the nature of the transitions specifically of interest have been the emergence of political and social hierarchies in the context of craft production this has implicitly meant mechanisms of control over natural resources, including their transformation into potentially valuable objects. This emphasis on control has influenced archaeological research as well, and models to explain iron production have been cast within similarly informed frameworks that have emphasized the increasing mastery over the technical aspects of iron production. The archaeological models for Early Historic northern India that have been based on the archaeology and history of the Central Gangetic plains do not necessarily hold true in Rajasthan. The archaeological landscape is significantly different, and the distribution of craft production activities reinforces this difference. Sites from southeastern Rajasthan, adjacent Gujarat and Malwa in Madhya Pradesh show a variety of contexts in which metal was being produced. An archaeological survey focusing on identifying loci of production across a landscape has led to the conclusion that aspects of metal production were fairly widespread across the Early Historic landscape in southeastern Rajasthan, and that these differences may highlight the distinction between different aspects of iron production, namely smelting and smithing.