Metal first used by vedic people?

- November 26, 2021

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Pre-Historic Period-Question 20

Daily Online General Knowledge Quiz:Previous year paper gk questions with answers and explanation in English on Indian History of Pre-Historic Period.

20.Which metal was first used by the vedic people?
A. Copper
B. Silver
C. Gold
D.Iron

Copper

Note: Artisans like carpenter, chariot-maker, the potter, have been mentioned in Rigveda, which is the evidence that these professions were practiced and in all these crafts, copper was used on the large scale.

The term 'ayasa' was used for copper, which indicates that they possessed the knowledge of metallurgy.

🔑Key Points

Copper was first metal used by man over 10,000 years ago. Copper was first used in coins and ornaments.

The other metals used in pre-historic times were gold, silver, tin, lead, and iron.

A copper pendant discovered in what is now northern Iraq has been dated about 8700 B.C. For nearly five millennia ,copper was the only metal known to man, and thus had all the metal applications.

Copper first came into use as the earliest non-precious metal employed by the Sumerians and Chaldeans of Mesopotamia.

1. Gold (ca) 6000BC - Stone Age man learned to fashion gold into jewellery

2. Copper, (ca) 4200BC - The use of copper in ancient times is of more significance than gold as the first tools, implements and weapons were made from copper.

3. Silver,(ca) 4000BC - Silver had been largely used throughout time as a basis for monetary systems and played central roles in the currencies of the Roman and Chinese Empires.

4. Lead, (ca) 3500BC - It is believed that lead smelting began at least 9,000 years ago, and the oldest known artefact of lead is a statuette found at the temple of Osiris on the site of Abydos dated circa 3800 BC.

5. Tin, (ca) 1750BC - First smelted in combination with copper around 3500 BC to produce bronze. The oldest artefacts date from around 2000 BC.

6. Iron,(ca) 1500BC - The discovery of smelting around 3000 BC led to the start of the Iron Age around 1200 BC and the prominent use of iron for making tools and weapons.

7. Mercury, (ca) 750BC - was known to ancient Chinese and Indians before 2000 BC, and found in Egyptian tombs dating from 1500 BC.

8.Brass was used in Lothal and Atranjikhera in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BCE. Brass and probably zinc was also found at Taxila in 4th to 3rd century BCE contexts.

9.Zinc was extracted in India as early as in the 4th to 3rd century BCE. Zinc production may have begun in India, and ancient north western India is the earliest known civilization that produced zinc on an industrial scale.

✔The distillation technique was developed around 1200 CE at Zawar in Rajasthan.

In the 17th century, China exported Zinc to Europe under the name of totamu or tutenag. The term tutenag may derive from the South Indian term Tutthanagaa (zinc).

✔The Arthashastra describes the production of zinc.

✔The Rasaratnakara by Nagarjuna describes the production of brass and zinc.

✔There are references of medicinal uses of zinc in the Charaka Samhita (300 BCE).

✔The Rasaratna Samuchaya (800 CE) explains the existence of two types of ores for zinc metal, one of which is ideal for metal extraction while the other is used for medicinal purpose. It also describes two methods of zinc distillation.

10.Wootz and steel

✔The first form of crucible steel was wootz, developed in India some time around 300 BCE.

✔In its production the iron was mixed with glass and then slowly heated and then cooled. As the mixture cooled the glass would bond to impurities in the steel and then float to the surface, leaving the steel considerably more pure.

✔Carbon could enter the iron by diffusing in through the porous walls of the crucibles. Carbon dioxide would not react with the iron, but the small amounts of carbon monoxide could, adding carbon to the mix with some level of control.

✔Wootz was widely exported throughout the Middle East, where it was combined with a local production technique around 1000 CE to produce Damascus steel, famed throughout the world.

✔Wootz derives from the Tamil term for steel urukku.

✔Indian wootz steel was the first high quality steel that was produced.

✔After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, many Indian wootz steel swords were ordered to be destroyed by the East India Company.

✔The metalworking industry in India went into decline during the period of British Crown control due to various colonial policies, but steel production was revived in India by Jamsetji Tata.

*This Question is a part of previous year paper gk questions on Pre-Historic Period of India.