Prehistoric India to 1000 B.C. c10.23

c10.23

To smelt copper from the ore a relatively low temperature, 700° to 800° C., is needed, in a reducing atmosphere – i.e. one in which access of free air (oxygen) is prevented. Now it has been pointed out that primitive pottery kilns would provide just these conditions, and although simple rough pots can be baked quite satisfactorily in an open fire, as soon as any attempt is made to control the colour of the exterior, and above all to paint it with patterns, a closed kiln is absolutely necessary. The transition from a closed kiln to a smelting furnace involves no great mental labour to conceive and it is not surprising, therefore, that we should find evidence of the earliest copper smelting among the makers of painted pottery in the Ancient Orient.