Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c26.s4.4

v1.c26.s4.4

We may now turn our attention to the antiquity of brass in ancient India. Before the discovery of zinc metal in India (made by the distillation route) some time during the fifth-fourth century BC, brass could be made only by the cementation route in which one of the following—zinc ore, sphalerite concentrate or the roasted product philosopher’s wool or zinc oxide—was smelted along with copper ore. The traditions of making philosopher’s wool and cementation brass** could have persisted even after the discovery of the distillation process of making zinc. As we have indicated earlier, the distillation route of making zinc and alloying this with molten copper was the only way of making high-zinc (more than 28 %) brass such as the fourth century BC Taxila vase (34.34 % zinc).