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11th KTPI Metallurgy

Metallurgy was an important part of ancient Indian civilization, with evidence of copper use dating back to 6000 BCE. During the Harappan civilization, metal smiths produced a variety of copper, bronze, and gold artifacts using techniques like the lost wax process. They discovered important alloys like bronze by combining copper and tin. Iron metallurgy became widespread around 1000 BCE. Indian metallurgists also distinguished zinc and produced it through advanced distillation techniques. Wootz steel production involved a complex crucible process that produced a high-quality carbon steel. Metallurgy was an important part of the Indian economy for many centuries until British industrialization disrupted traditional production methods.

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41 views22 pages

11th KTPI Metallurgy

Metallurgy was an important part of ancient Indian civilization, with evidence of copper use dating back to 6000 BCE. During the Harappan civilization, metal smiths produced a variety of copper, bronze, and gold artifacts using techniques like the lost wax process. They discovered important alloys like bronze by combining copper and tin. Iron metallurgy became widespread around 1000 BCE. Indian metallurgists also distinguished zinc and produced it through advanced distillation techniques. Wootz steel production involved a complex crucible process that produced a high-quality carbon steel. Metallurgy was an important part of the Indian economy for many centuries until British industrialization disrupted traditional production methods.

Uploaded by

kartiklanjewar86
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METALLURGY IN ANCIENT INDIA

Metallurgy before and during


the Harappan Civilization.
Metallurgy before
and during the
Harappan
Civilization.

✓ The first evidence of metal in the Indian


subcontinent - Mehrgarh in Baluchistan -
small copper bead dated 6000 BCE.
✓ Archaeological excavations show that
Harappan metal smiths obtained copper
ore from the Aravalli hills, Baluchistan
and beyond.
✓ Harappans discovered Copper + Tin =
Bronze.
✓ Harappan craftsmen also invented the
true saw, with teeth and the adjoining
part of the blade set alternatively from
side to side, a type of saw unknown
elsewhere until Roman times.
Spearheads,
arrowheads, axes,
chisels, sickles, blades
(for knives as well as
razors), needles, hooks,
and vessels such as jars,
pots and pans, besides
objects of toiletry such
as bronze mirrors; were
some of the metal
artefacts produced by
Harappans.
Bronze spiked
sphere
Bronze Statues Using the Lost Wax
Technique
Metallurgy
Harappan
Civilization

• A bronze figurine of a
bull (Kalibangan) made
by the Lost Wax Process
Metallurgy during
Harappan
Civilization

The Dancing Girl of 'Mohenjo-daro' made


by the Lost Wax Process
After the Harappans
After the Harappans
in the classical age
• In the classical age, copper-bronze smiths
supplied countless pieces of art.
• Let us mention the huge bronze statue of the
Buddha made between 500 and 700 CE in
Sultanganj (Bhagalpur district, Bihar, now at the
Birmingham Museum); at 2.3 m high, 1 m wide,
and weighing over 500 kg.
• It was made by the same lost-wax technique that
Harappans used three millenniums earlier.
Bronze Metallurgy
BRONZE
METALLURGY
• So were thousands of statues made later (and up to
this day) in Tamil Nadu, such as the beautiful
Nataraja statues of the Chola period, among other
famous bronzes.
BRONZE
METALLURGY

• Highly polished bronze mirrors are


still made in Kerala today, just as
they were in Harappan times.
Iron Metallurgy, Iron
Pillars and Beams
IRON
METALLURGY

• The use of Iron appears to have become widespread from about 1000 BCE,
and we find in late Vedic texts mentions of a ‘dark metal’ (krṣnāyas), while
earliest texts (such as the Rig-Veda) only spoke of ayas, which, it is now
accepted, referred to copper or bronze.
Zinc Distillation
and Metallurgy
ZINC METALLURGY
• Indian metallurgists were familiar several other
metals, of which zinc deserves a special mention
because, having a low boiling point (907°C), it tends
to vaporize while its ore is smelted.
• Zinc, a silvery-white metal, is precious in
combination with copper, resulting in brass of
superior quality.
• Sometimes part of copper ore, pure zinc could be
produced only after a sophisticated ‘downward’
distillation technique in which the vapour was
captured and condensed in a lower container.
• This technique, which was also applied to mercury,
is described in Sanskrit texts such as the 14th-
century Rasaratnasamuccaya.
Wootz Steel
Process of making
wootz steel
• Wootz process consisted in first presteel applies
to a high-carbon alloy produced by crucible
process.
• The basic paring sponge (or porous) iron; it was
then hammered while hot to expel slag, broken
up,
• Then sealed with wood chips or charcoal in
closed crucibles (clay containers) that were
heated, causing the iron to absorb appreciable
amounts of carbon; the crucibles were then
cooled, with solidified ingot of wootz steel
remaining.
Social Context
Social Context
Most of India’s metal production was controlled by specific
social groups, including so-called tribes.

Agarias of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are reputed iron


smiths, and there are still such communities scattered across
Jharkhand, Bihar, WestBengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

They contributed substantially to India’s wealth, since India was


for a long time a major exporter of iron.

In the late 1600s, shipments of tens of thousands of wootz


ingots would leave the Coromandel Coast for Persia every year.

India’s iron and steel industry was intensive till the 18th century
and declined only when the British started selling their own
products in India while imposing high duties on Indian products.

Industrially produced iron and steel unavoidably put a final stop


to most of India’s traditional production.
Thank you

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