Do you think whether iron technology was the key for the development second phase urban formation during sixth century in Ancient History ?

 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 functionaries of the emerging states could be sustained.

It has been pointed out that the application of iron technology is evident mostly in the manufacture of weapons and less in the making of the tools of production. A.Ghosh suggests that iron technology was not an indispensable factor in clearing the forest and ploughing the alluvial soil in the Ganga valley.

George Erdosy, Niharranjan Ray and D.K.Chakrabarti argue that the emergence and consolidation of territorial states in north India provided the vital politico-administrative structure to meet the demand for the agrarian surplus and its subsequent realization. 

s. Both are witness to the transformation of a society from a relatively simple stage to a more stratified phase. The advent of cities also coincides with the emergence of a coinage tradition which indicates brisk trade and exchange related activities and proliferation of market places. No less striking is the remarkable specialization and diversity of craft products evident from textual accounts.