Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c26.s4.1

v1.c26.s4.1

As regards the recovery of zinc from the ore, the crucible reduction/distillation method was put to large scale commercial practice in the thirteenth century AD, and this will be described later. Indirect and circumstantial evidences suggest that the distillation method was in vogue much earlier, probably from the fourth century BC onwards, although not in a large scale as we find in the thirteenth century AD context.