There is a debate which focuses on whether iron technology was the key to urban formation. The remarkable agrarian development, according to Kosambi, Sharma and N.R.Banerjee lay in the development of iron technology and the availability of iron implements for agriculture. The argument that iron technology changed agricultural production is linked to the fact that iron axes facilitated the clearing of forests so that land could be used for cultivation. The iron ploughshare replacing the wooden share was more effective and eventually crop production increased. These scholars have also pointed to the rich deposits of iron ore in the middle Ganga plain. Iron axes and adzes, discovered from many excavated and explored sites in the Ganga valley suggest their regular use. Iron technology is perceived to have been simultaneously instrumental to the clearance of forests and improved crop production as well. Thus there was agricultural surplus with which both the urban population and funct...