History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c13.s2.t4.182

v1.c13.s2.t4.182

Zinc is probably the last element to be discovered and used by the Pre-Christian civilization and the recent excavations done at the ancient lead and zinc mining site at Zawar (Rajasthan) by Hegde, Craddock and Sonawala (1984) has credited India to be the first to introduce this metal to the world somewhere between 600 to 200 B.C. Zinc is silvery white in colour and very hard and brittle owing to its close packed hexagonal crystal structure. It has a M.P. of 419°C and its boiling point is 930°C but it readily gets oxidized to ZnO at 550°C in open air. In the 17th and 18th century Germans called this metal ‘Counterfeitum’ or mock-silver because of its silvery white lusture. Owing to its brittleness this metal had not found much use in its pure form but it’s alloy with copper became very popular due to its Gold like colour and excellent workability. From the debris and slag dumps found around Zawar, Hegde et al. have estimated that atleast 15,000 tonnes of zinc was produced at this site over a long period and this metal was being supplied to all corners of the world ever since 11th century A.D. or even earlier.