History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c11.s3.t1.4

v1.c11.s3.t1.4

More interesting is the evidence of arsenic alloying. Out of the 46 artifacts analyzed by us, 50% show more than 1% arsenic. None of the artifacts, however, has any tin (Fig. 5). It is thus obvious that the Copper Hoards technological tradition is different from that of the other cultures. We may recall here that in the earliest phases, both in the Near and Middle East, only arsenic alloying was used (Eaton and Mckerell 1976); tin replaces arsenic only in the third millennium B.C. in Western Asia. At Tepe Yahya, they used arsenic copper ores, which made arsenic alloying easier for them, but there are no significant sources of arsenic in India, although small out-crops are known from Rajasthan, Kashmir, and Bihar. Nal in Pakistan, yielded lollingite (FeAs2). Both of these features, exclusive arsenic alloying and characteristic tool-types, indicate the possibility of the Copper Hoards being an autochthonous, and perhaps the oldest, metallurgical tradition in India.