Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c25.s3.2

v1.c25.s3.2

Though Harappan gold contained some silver (electrum), the silver samples, more prolific than gold (D.P. Agrawal, 1984: 163), contained no gold but some lead and copper (*vide* Table 17.3). This means that silver was probably obtained from argentiferous galena rather than electrum. (Bhardwaj, 1979: 138) Forbes (1964: 175-232) concluded that the Pattinson Process (crystallization of lead from melt, leaving silver-rich residue)-cum-cupellation (oxidation of impurities in silver by hot air) route had been invented in the third millennium BC. This must have been followed to make Harappan silver, the starting raw material being argentiferous lead ore from Fāranjāl mine, Afghanistan or the Ajmer mine in Rajasthan.