| Abstract: |
Scarcity of tin in ancient cultures was a worldwide phenomenon. This led to the hypothesis that in antiquity, especially during the Bronze Age, tin was traded to India. However, explorations conducted in different parts of India, right from the British period, identified several areas with occurrences of a variety of tin ores. Interestingly, many of these deposits are located in close proximity of ancient sites belonging to different cultural horizons. In the light of this, there is now a need to re-examine the occurrence and utilization of tin in India in antiquity. There appears to be a possibility of utilization of some of these occurrences because of their geographical proximity, evidence of ancient mining and prevalence of pre-industrial exploitation, including panning, in many of these areas. The present paper proposes to draw the attention of scholars towards this fact.
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