The Early Iron Age in the Indian subcontinent has been studied and categorised into six zones: North Western Frontier, Baluchistan, Ganga Valley, Eastern India, Malwa and Berar in Central India and Deccan Peninsular and Southern India. Each zone had its own unique features and developed independently.
In her Talk, "Understanding the Early Iron Age: Zonal Differences Within the Indian Subcontinent" , Dr Oishi Roy of IISER, Mohali will trace the similarities and differences and reasons for this development with the aid of new excavations and dates that have come to light. She will also attempt to infer the socio-cultural construct of the society and draw inferences about the iron technology adopted.
The online Talk in English is at 5.30 pm IST on Saturday, November, 1, 2025.
About The Speaker:
Oishi Roy is a Post – Doctoral Fellow at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali under the Palaeo – Arch Lab. Her current research revolves around indigenous smithy techniques and the smithy communities of Eastern India.
Dr Roy did her masters at the Rashtrasant Tukdaoji Maharaja Nagpur University in Ancient Indian History Culture and Archaeology and her Post-Graduate Diploma at Deccan College Pune. She did her PhD in Ancient Iron Technology of Early Iron Age from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.
Dr Roy worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Archaeological Sciences Centre at IIT Gandhinagar. Later, she served as Assistant Archaeologist at Bihar Heritage Development Society, Patna and was involved in the famous Telhara Excavation. Besides being an archaeo-metallurgist she have excavated multiple sites ranging from Lower Palaeolithic to Early Medieval.
In 2019 she was awarded with the prestigious H.D Sankalia Young Archaeologist Award for her research paper on Evidence for Steel Making at Naikund and its Relationship with Mahurjhari, Borgaon and Khairwada.
She has recently co-authored an excavation report, ‘Sri Prathamasivapura Mahavihara: Excavating an Early Medieval Buddhist Monastery at Telhara in Magadh (Eastern India).
