There has been considerable speculation by serious researchers into the Bronze/Iron Age cultures who could have produced the itihaasas. While not being a pursuit into the exact provenance.

Krishna Kumar published a detailed analysis in BORI 1992.....(1/n)

The earliest culture marked by a very specific profusion of weapons is the Ochre Coloured Pottery (OCP) culture in the Upper Ganga-Yamuna Doab.

Flat, bar & shouldered celts, double edged axe, hatchet, rings, antennae swords, hooked swords and spearheads, barbed harpoons...(2/n)
Krishna Kumar provides a detailed characterisation of the economy of the OCP people...(3/n)
The OCP culture has its origins in the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE in the chalcolithic Ganeshwara-Jodhpura culture. (Deepak Nair, 2012)

(4/n)....
Krishna Kumar points out the similarity of weapons mentioned in the Ramayana to those of the archaeological remains of the OCP culture. (5/n)
Copper Hoard/OCP culture type weapons have proliferated throughout India in the archaeo record.

Krishna Kumar therefore assesses a fit between the culture that might have produced the Ramayana and the archaeo-record. (6/n)
Since Krishna Kumar published his weapon/archaeo/textual fitting paper in 1992, several events have overtaken us.

The finding of a grave buried chariot at Sinauli (OCP culture) has led to renewed discussions in the Indian archaeological community. (7/n)
The world of the OCP was different from the Harappan world. This was a war-making culture that was technologically sufficient in weapon making.

The contrast with Harappans, who seemed to have exclusively concentrated on trade/urbanism, could not be greater. (8/n)
If viewed correctly, we see a concordance between the events of the Ramayana with a specific archaeo-attested culture that was dominant in weaponry. The time range is 2000-1500 BCE. The North-South progression that is evident in the OCP spread.

(n/n)

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