Aravali Range

The Aravalli Range draws a worn line for roughly 670 kilometres through northwestern India, from near Delhi across Haryana and Rajasthan toward Ahmedabad. Its forested ridges and rocky passes separate the dry Marwar country from the more sheltered lands of Mewar while also providing corridors between them. The hills are the eroded remnant of India’s oldest fold-mountain belt, ancient formations that have stopped rising and been reduced by immense spans of weathering.

Guru Shikhar on Mount Abu reaches 1,722 metres. These subdued mountains hold exceptional mineral wealth. Copper, lead, zinc and silver occur in the range, with important lead-zinc-silver deposits around Zawar.

Carbon dating places copper mining at least as early as the fifth century BCE, while other investigations suggest mining in the Sothi-Siswal period around 4000 BCE. Indus-world settlements, including Kalibangan and Kunal, obtained copper from these hills. The Aravalli thus acted as barrier, passage and records of materials: its rocks connected local labour with distant metalworking networks.