The history of zinc and its use in pre-modern India

Abstract

The extraction of zinc from ores began late in history, mainly because of the fact that it tended to evaporate when smelting in the open was attempted. It was only when closed stills began to be used for liquor distillation that the same method could be adopted for zinc. This technique began to be used in China and India in medieval times, the major zinc mine in India being at Jāwar in Mewar, Rajasthan. These mines remained in operation till at least well into the seventeenth century, when zinc imports from China apparently made zinc extraction at Jāwar unprofitable and the mines closed down. The famous Bidri ware datable to the eighteenth century seems to have depended for its zinc on China.