Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c46.s5: Conclusion
Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c46.s5
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Conclusion
v2.c46.s5.1
Continuing investigations, both archaeological as well as literary, are likely to augment our knowledge on minerals and metals in ancient India. On the basis of the informations gathered by us so far, we may safely conclude that in the field of material science and technology, ancient India was second to none amongst the contemporary nations in the world.
v2.c46.s5.2
A variety of reasons, discussed in this chapter, inhibited the rate of scientific progress in this sub-continent, and India failed to match the spectacular intellectual renaissance in Europe. Nevertheless, when the British investigators of the nineteenth century surveyed our sub-continent, they obtained abundant evidences of ancient mines, working metallurgical outfits in the sectors of iron, copper, zinc, brass and gold, well-informed practices related to gems and non-gem minerals and, briefly stated, of the entire gamut of the ancient and medieval Indian traditions in minerals and metals.