Crucible Steel in South India-Preliminary Investigations on Crucibles from Some Newly Identified Sites
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STEEL
IN
SOUTH
INDIA-PRELIMINARY
INVESTIGATIONS
ON
CRUCIBLES FROM SOME NEWLY IDENTIFIED SITES
Sharada Srinivasan, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and Dafydd Griffiths, Institute of Archaeology, University College London
ABSTRACT European accounts from the 17th century onwards have referred to the repute and manufacture of 'wootz', a traditional crucible steel made especially in parts of southern India in the former provinces of Golconda, Mysore and Salem. Pliny's Natural History mentions the import of iron and steel from the Seres which have been thought to refer to the ancient southern Indian kingdom of the Cheras. As yet the scale of excavations
and surface surveys is too limited to link the literary accounts
to
archaeometallurgical evidence, although pioneering exploratory investigations have been made by scholars. especially on the pre-industrial production sites of Konasamudram and Gatihosahalli discussed in 18th-19th century European accounts. In 1991-2 during preliminary surveys of ancient base metal mining sites, Srinivasan came across unreported dumps with crucible fragments at Mel-Siruvalur in Tamil Nadu. and Tintini and Machnur in Karnataka and she collected surface specimens from these sites as well as from the known site of Gatihosahalli.
She was also given crucible fragments by the
Tamil University, Tanjavur, from an excavated megalithic site at Kodumanal, dated to ca 2nd c. BC, mentioned in Tamil Sangarn literature (ca 3rd c. BC-3rd c. AD), and very near Karur, the ancient capital of the Sangam Cheras.
Analyses of crucible fragments from the surface collection at Mel-
Siruvalur showed several iron prills with a uniform pearlitic structure of high-carbon hypereutectoid steel
(-1-1.5-r C), suggesting that the end product was uniformly a high-carbon steel
of a structure
consistent with
those of high-carbon steels used successfully to experimentally
replicate the watered steel patterns on 'Damascus' swords. Investigations indicate that the process was of carburisation of molten low carbon iron (m.p. 14000 C) in crucibles packed with carbonaceous matter.
The fabric of crucibles from all the above mentioned sites appears similar.
Preliminary
investigations on these crucibles are thus reported to establish their relationship to crucible production of carbon steel and to thereby extend the known horizons of this technology further.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND It is generally known that high-carbon iron alloys were made in parts of Asia before they were widely used in Europe such as the Indian 'wootz' crucible steel (Smith 1960:14-24, Bronson 1986) and cast iron from China. The repute of Indian iron and steel can be traced back to Greek and Roman times 111 Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 462 0 1 99 7 Materials Research Society
characterising the metallurgical activity. The village of Mel-siruvalur is about 5 km from the old copper workings of Mamandur in the South Arcot district. Evidence of metallurgical activity came from a mound just behind the village of about 25 m x 8-9 in wid
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