History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c13.s4.42

v1.c13.s4.42

The stone axe and other stone age tools found at Jalapur and Soan in Pakistan by Rendell and Dennell (1987) are probably the oldest in India dating back to Sivalik series (17 million year old). With the discovery of native metals these were replaced by tool made of copper, bronze and iron and the era of metal extraction technology was initiated as the ancient Indians gained knowledge of the naturally occurring metallic minerals and the reducing as well as smelting power of charcoal fire. Some of the iron tools used for mining have been already reported. These tools seem to be very light weight for shaft sinking and excavation of tunnels and galleries through hard stone beds, but these might have been used for digging out the ore minerals from reefs and streak or soft minerals like, Galena, Limonite and Cuprite etc. For breaking the rock bed either the fire setting method or some heavier tools must have been used.