Research Paper
Archaeometallurgical Investigation of Iron Production at Megalithic Site of Malli, Vidarbha, Maharashtra
Authors: Virag Gopal Sontakke, Eiji Yamasue, Benjamin Sabatini, Tomotaka Sasada, Prachi V. Sontakke
Year: 2026, Volume: 17, Page/Article: 117-131, DOI: https://doi.org/10.47509/AA.2026.v17i.09
Abstract
The Indian subcontinent has garnered significant attention for early ferrous-metal manufacturing and the production of high-carbon wootz steel. Excavations at Malli, an Iron Age site in Gondia district, Maharashtra, revealed the presence of furnaces, iron antiquities, besides abundant slags datable to the mid-second millennium BCE. The current paper deals with two aspects of early Iron Age metallurgy at Malli. First, the results of chemical analyses and microstructural observations of iron slags, using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray fluorescence (XRF), are presented. Secondly, it attempts to offer archaeo-cultural insights from the results of a scientific survey.
Keywords: Megaliths, Vidarbha, smelting, iron furnace, slag compositions, early ferrous manufacturing