Udaya kumar

Geographically, Rajasthan is located in north-western India which is part of a region that has been described as the heart of India – a triangle between Delhi, the Gulf of Cambay and Bengal. This triangle is an area of physical complexity and transitional between the Indo-Ganges plains and the Deccan plateau on the peninsular landmass and Southeast Rajasthan utilized this peculiar geographical location and secured a unique place in the history of India. Southeast Rajasthan has witnessed the attempts of urbanization at least five times during the last 5,700 years. The physiographic features of Southeast Rajasthan have determined its drainage system, vegetation and the human settlement, thus rising as a centre of human activities right from the pre-historic times. Though the region does not have any perennial river, it always attracted human beings of various cultures because of its geology. The region has raw materials in abundance and was ever exploited by humans from ancient times.

Experimental archaeology is a branch of archaeology
that seeks to understand past human behaviour and culture by
reproducing and testing ancient technology, tools, and
procedures. It entails putting historical theories to the test using
scientific principles and carefully monitored experiments.
Building replica bone tools and experimenting with various
approaches can reveal information about how bone tools were
manufactured in the past. This can aid in understanding the
ability and knowledge required to create various types of bone
tools. The present paper is an attempt to recreate some of the
bone tools, such as points and knives, which we generally
encounter in archaeological excavations. The methodologies
used for the creation of these tools have been described in
detail. The aim was not to replicate a particular archaeological
time span of bone tool making, but to understand the methods
and techniques of some of the bone tools.

In the Indian Subcontinent, the tradition of using iron
is well established, as indicated by the large number of metal
objects unearthed from different cultures. Archaeological
investigations, especially at Atranjikhera, have amply shown
that iron, in its technological and economic aspects, has come
into use some time by the end of the second millennium BCE.
The current research aims to understand the iron technology
from two different regions (Karnataka) and (Gujarat) through
the lens of current ethno-technological approaches to gain fresh
insights, especially given that ironworking traditions are
vanishing into the sunset. This research explores several aspects
concerning iron technology along with micro-level observation
of past and present practices. Comparative analyses of the
construction of furnaces, building structure of the workshop
location, tools such as chisel, axe, blade and so on as well as the
socio-cultural aspects concerning the family involvement,
mobility, migration, current status in society and decline of iron
technology in the study area were undertaken. This comparative
study is a helpful tool to gain more insights into the
anthropology and ethnoarchaeology of ironworking, including
aspects such as the migration of ethnic practices.

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Archaeometallurgy is the study of metal working structure, tools, waste products and finished metal artifacts from the Bronze Age to the recent past. It can be used to identify and interpret metal working structure in the field and during the post- excavation phases of a project, metal working waste product such as slags, crucible and moulds. The technologies used in the past can be reconstructed from the information obtained. Scientific techniques are often used by archaeometallurgical, as they can provide addition information (Bayley et. al 2001). In south Asia, there have been few studies on Archaeometallurgy, reason being a lack of easily accessible laboratories for scientific studies on the same. There is also a lack of adequate communication between archaeologist and scientists working in the field of the metal technology as also with communities practicing traditional techniques of iron-working. Despite such problem important studies have been conducted by numerous scholars (Agrawal 1999, 2000, 2002, Bhardwaj 2000, Hegde1991, Kuppuram1998, Tripathi 2001).

The temple of Tamil Nadu has a long history and archaeology among the temple in South India. The temple in South India context has always drawn the attention of students, researchers as well as scholars of various hues for a long time due to multiple tradition myths and mysteries surrounding it. When we trace the origin of the temple, there is mention of the Kuttam and Kovil, both meaning are mentioned in Sangam literature. There is an interesting theory about the history of the temple in Tamil Nadu. In ancient times the public used to assemble in every village at a particular place to discuss the needs of the village and grievance of the public. Besides, such places of the congregation also served as a court of justices to punish the offender, but later it changes into religious practices with the excellent art and architecture. History of Avudayar Kovil Temple This research has taken a challenge to understand the art and architecture of Avudayar Kovil temple in Tamil Nadu. Avudayar Kovil temple belongs to Pandya dynasty. Saint Manickavasagar, them heading the cabinet of Pandya king, came to this place Tiruperundurai, now Avudayar Kovil to buy horses. He heard the sound of "Shivagama mantras there and saw a guru sitting there. The Prime minister fell at the feet of the lord and begged him to teach him wisdom. While learning, Manickavasagar plunged into deep meditation when he opened his eyes, he found his teacher absent in the place and understood that his guru was none other than Shiva himself." 1

Cross-cultural approaches have been used widely in archaeological research. Comparative ethnology has provided a number of archaeological indicators of behavior , but large segments of the archaeological record have not yet been subjected to extensive comparative analysis. Comparative archaeology has aided in exploring variation among societal types (such as chiefdoms) and categories within the archaeological record (such as settlements). Diachronic comparisons have been used frequently by archaeologists, but these have often been based on unique samples and only rarely have employed statistics to aid in the discovery or testing of hypotheses. Archaeoethnology, comparative analyses of archaeological cases employing valid samples and statistical evaluation of theories and hypotheses, is introduced.

The ancient iron smelting site at Iswal is located in the Udaipur district of Southeast Rajasthan, Western India
(Figs 1 and 2). Geographically, the village is situated in the core of the Aravalli Hills, i.e. in the southern part
of these ranges. This area is rich in iron ore and its exploitation goes back to around the 1st millennium BCE
as evidenced by at sites such as Noh (IAR (Indian Archaeological Review), 1963-64 to 1964-65), Ahar, Sunari
(IAR, 1980-81), Barirat (IAR, 1962-63), Gilund (IAR, 1959-60).

This article brings light to understand iron smelting process through experimental study from various scholars in world wide. The experimental study plays an important role to understand ancient technologies like stone, metal, pottery, beads etc. Through the experimental study of iron technology, one can understand the importance of ancient iron production in past. This article brings all experimental work of iron technology done by various scholars together in one paper.

This article brings light to traditional technique of bronze casting through generation to
generation in Tamil Nadu with the help of literary source and practical knowledge. Bronze manufacture
shows a remarkable degree of continuity in Tamil Nadu. The technique followed in the bronze casting is
known as Cire‐Perdue or lost‐wax process. This technique is following still today by traditional bronze
sculptor known as Sthapathi.