We note a significant transition from Rig-Veda or the first Vedic society to that of the later Vedic age.
Chronologically, this transition is assigned to the period corresponding to 1000 BC to 600 BC. Both the Vedic literature and archaeological sources provide sufficient material to reconstruct the history and culture of the people of the post-Vedic period.
Literary evidence is mainly related to the territories of the upper and middle Ganga basin and somehow peripherally to another region.
The archaeological shoal found the existence of agricultural communities in the same geographic region; approximately corresponding to the same period of time.
Its culture is called the Painted Gray Ware (PGW) culture and about 700 sites of this culture are found along the upper Ganga basin. These sites range from the dry beds of the Ghaggar River at Bahawalpur in Pakistan and north of Rajasthan, to the Indus basin and the Ganges and the Ganga-Yamuna doab.
Evidence from the Sravasti site indicates that the eastern boundary of the PGW crop area is restricted to the northern plains of the Ganges. It is also suggested that the Banas culture of southern Rajasthan reached the Ganges valley around 800 BC and, consequently, it was said that users of black and red pottery belonged to this period.
While literary texts speak of the eastward movement of the Vedic Aryans, archaeological excavations do not corroborate that view. Although there is a discrepancy between the archaeological and literary sources in this period, they agree with respect to the use of iron by these people of the PGW culture of the Gangética basin. This can be confirmed by the carbon 14 test performed on the artifacts found in that region.
The word Ayas referred to in the Rig-Veda is translated as "iron". We find the term 'Syama Ayas' in the Yajurveda and 'Krishna Ayas' in the Brahmanas. Megalithic burials in southern India also reveal that they were also familiar with iron and its use. It is a common view that iron technology is indigenous rather than the consequence of foreign contacts.
There is a debate among historians about the impact of iron technology on the material cultural basis of post-modern society. Two views prevail. One group contends that iron technology was not an important factor, and the other contends that iron iron shafts, iron-plowed plowshares and nobles helped clear the forests of the Gangetic doab and improved the efficiency of agricultural implements.
The second view is questioned on the basis that iron casting technology was in its early stages. It is further noted that the Bihar iron ore mines were not fully exploited at this stage and were not very agrarian. In addition, the artifacts that were known are only offensive weapons, such as pointed tips with an iron tip and spear points, and no agricultural implements such as sickles, hoes and axes.
It is now generally believed that iron technology did not influence the material cultural basis until the second half of the first millennium BC, since a plowing was only used during this period. In addition, the literary evidence of the Mahabharata refers to the mechanism of Khandavadaham to clean the forests by burning them instead of with iron instruments.
At this stage, there was a definite growth of agricultural operations, as vast areas of fertile alluvial land were available from the Ganga-Yamuna doab and the Ganga valley. Undoubtedly, later Vedic texts recognize pastoralism as an important occupation.