Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c28.s8.t1.13

v1.c28.s8.t1.13

The earliest metals used in making of artifacts, objects of self-adornment and worship were more or less pure copper, and rarely copper-tin alloy. The metal generally used during the Gupta Period was a kind of lead-bronze alloy, and in the post-Gupta periods (7th-8th centuries AD) it was copper-tin alloy. In the metal objects of the period ninth-fourteenth centuries AD, we find a transition from the use of copper-tin alloy to copper-tin-zinc alloy, which are known as zinc bronze, and thereafter to copper-zinc-lead alloy known as lead-brass. In the post-medieval period, particularly after fourteenth century AD, we find a marked transition from lead brass to real brass technology.