Indian Zinc Technology in a Global Perspective

Metallurgy had begun in the Indian subcontinent around 6th Millennium BCE. But unlike other metals zinc appeared much later, only a few hundred years ago, on the scene. Being volatile it is one of the most difficult metals to smelt as it forms vapor in the furnace when heated to around 1000 degree celsius. Though various claims have been made regarding its remote antiquity across Asia and Europe, only Zawar in India has the oldest archaeological record of pure zinc production on commercial scale. Pure zinc distillation was perhaps derived fro Ayurvedic preparations. More than 800 years ago the Indians designed brinjal shaped retorts, condensers and special furnaces with downward distillation to obtain pure zinc. This was a unique achievement which is the ancestor of all high temperature distillation techniques in the world and it has no parallels. The Zawar zinc industry is the most unusual phenomenon, a full fledged technology with neither antecedents nor successors. It was a great innovation taking place on a major scale away from Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The Zawar metallurgists brought about a breakthrough in non-ferrous metal extraction around the 12th century, thus adding a glorious chapter of Indias contribution to the world of History of Science and Technology. The book presents the story of this glorious chapter of zinc technology in a global perspective but is aimed at the lay reader. Technical data for the specialists are given in three appendices.