metals our inherited knowledgebase

What our ancestors used to think about metals and its uses, now where we are? In which areas we have advanced and which areas we have lost the wealth of our ancestral knowledge. We will be going through the detailed study of this issue in this particular article.

How the Bronze Age people had used different techniques to get the extraction of pure metals. What superior technology they were having? How the improvement in the processes of extraction took place as the time passed? Now at this moment are we thinking that we have advanced a lot? What are the things we have missed out?

What are the different ways to get back that knowledge which we have lost and are really relevant today also? All this jargon is going to be discussed in this particular article.

Firstly we will go through the different metals used by our ancestors and it's brief uses. And now we are using it for what purpose.

1. Cast Iron: Cast Iron has a historical reference way back up to 6th century BC. It has its roots in china. Basically it was used for the purpose of weapons, canon and shots.

Nowadays cast Iron is used for the purpose of those applications where sharp corners are not required but good compressive strength is required. I.e. machine bodies, heavy bridges, and automobile components.

Comment: Wide use of Cast Iron in modern equipments is surely a sign of advancement in the application. But still modern scientists have no answer for the corrosive strength of the Iron pillar which was constructed way back in 350 AD in Delhi, India. And they haven't found any similar technique which can be deployed for the current age applications.

2. Steel: First steel comes from East Africa dating back to 1400 BC. Around 300 BC Wootz steel was invented in India. Swords made from these steels are still famous for its toughness and sharpness. Nobody after 1700 AD has ever able to achieve those qualities in the same manner.

Currently we are using the steel for the purpose of the infrastructure, building big skeleton of airports, car bodies, steel wool etc. But till date we are still struggling with corrosion issue of all these usages.

Comment: Although there was an attempt by modern age scientists to prepare the wootz steel in their laboratory results were not up to the mark.

Needless to say that this part will be going to really interesting when it comes to the different opinions of the people. Generally every guy has something to say about this interesting topic. So surely their replies about this topic will help us update more on this issue.

The whole knowledge gathering is the endless process in itself. We need to strive hard to get the attention of each and every minute detail in order to get the perfection in the process. We welcome all the resource material from all the people those who have something to share on the subject matter discussed above. I know, most of you may not be metallurgist but surely you will have some understanding of your ancestral history about metals.

I urge you to kindly share the details about whatever inputs you have in terms of metals usage by your ancestors. I will be updating about the aluminum, bronze and copper and their relevance with respect to ancient history of mankind in upcoming episode.