Story of the Delhi Iron Pillar traces the history of the pillar located in the Qutub Complex and describes its structure in detail. It unravels the mystery behind the resistance of the pillar to corrosion for more than sixteen centuries. It also discusses the amazing process by which the pillar was manufactured using the technical know-how available at the time. the book is primarily aimed at general readers and tourists, with a view to igniting their interest in this metallurgical wonder of ancient India. Written in simple language and a lucid style, it carries numerous photographs and elaborate figures to enhance the discussion.

Publisher description

Illustrations: 4 Maps and 47 B/w Illustrations Description: This is one of the few well documented, well-researched and well-presented book on the history of mining and metallurgy in ancient India based on archaeological, literary and ethnological evidences and on first hand knowledge of various mining sites. Apart from the introduction and conclusion, this work of about 300 pages consists chapters on mineral ores in ancient India, gold, silver, copper and bronze, iron and zinc. This book also contains 4 maps and 47 illustrations.

This volume highlights the extraordinary richness, diversity, and extensive distribution of iron ores in India, along with the equally rich, diverse, and widely scattered preindustrial tradition of iron and steel manufacture. Archaeologically, Chakrabarti demonstrates how by c. 1000 B.C. the major areas of the subcontinent passed into a full-fledged Iron Age, and how the process must be considered to have begun around the middle of the second millenium B.C. This book shows how the antiquity of Indian steel-making and examines literary sources which throw light on the use of iron in Indian agriculture.

This introduction for engineers examines not only the physical properties of materials, but also their history, uses, development, and some of the implications of resource depletion and materials substitutions.

This book presents a comprehensive history of Iron Technology in India. It covers the long span of Indian history stretching over roughly three and a half millennia from the first half of the second millennium BCE to pre-modern times. One can trace the development of iron technology from the humble beginnings in a chalcolithic milieu followed by the technological evolution reaching the peaks of iron technology of the colossal structures of the Delhi Iron Pillar weighing several tons by early centuries of the Christian Era. The metallurgical expertise and the ingenuity of artisans find expression in the production of wootz steel swords with their intriguing rippling patterns. These swords and daggers were highly prized in the ancient world. They were marketed by the enterprising sailors of the Middle East at lucrative profits. The sword of Tipu Sultan is indeed a legend. The iron and steel industry in India was flourishing till the eighteenth-nineteenth century CE. The quality of the product was superior enough to be prized by the European world, viz. by the Dutch, the Spanish and the British up to pre-modern times. Iron produced at Tendukhera was imported by Britain to be used in bridges across Menai Strait and also in the London Bridge. However; one perceives a decline in traditional iron industry during the British period. Iron working could manage to survive till a few decades back among the ethnic societies who had been engaged in it for generations. The book incorporates results of a first-hand study of these traditional iron-workers, who may be termed as bearers of the legacy which had a glorious past but a very uncertain future.

David A. Scott provides a detailed introduction to the structure and morphology of ancient and historic metallic materials. Much of the scientific research on this important topic has been inaccessible, scattered throughout the international literature, or unpublished; this volume, although not exhaustive in its coverage, fills an important need by assembling much of this information in a single source. Jointly published by the GCI and the J. Paul Getty Museum, the book deals with many practical matters relating to the mounting, preparation, etching, polishing, and microscopy of metallic samples and includes an account of the way in which phase diagrams can be used to assist in structural interpretation. The text is supplemented by an extensive number of microstructural studies carried out in the laboratory on ancient and historic metals. The student beginning the study of metallic materials and the conservation scientist who wishes to carry out structural studies of metallic objects of art will find this publication quite useful.