History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c13.s2.t3.36

v1.c13.s2.t3.36

Copper occurs in nature in native form and most probably man's acquaintance with this metal was in this form, which could be hammered i.e. cold worked to make various hunting tools etc. which could replace the crude stone objects. In India the occurrence of native copper is very rare and there is a possibility that Indian craftsmen got introduced to this metal by chance reaction between copper bearing minerals like Malachite, Cuprite and Chalcopyrite and charcoal fire. The chemical formula of the copper minerals is given below: