Ancient History of South Asian Production
Crucible steel is generally attributed to production centres in India and Sri Lanka where it was produced using the so-called “wootz” process and it is assumed that its appearance in other locations was due to long distance trade. Only recently it has become apparent that places in Central Asia like Merv in Turkmenistan and Akhsiket in Uzbekistan were important centres of production of crucible steel. The Central Asian finds are all from excavations and date from the 8th to 12th centuries AD, while the Indian/Sri Lankan material is as early as 300 BC.In addition India's superior iron ore has trace vanadium and other rare earths which unintentionally leads to the formation of carbon nano tubes in Indian crucible steel which was famous throughout the middle east for its ability to retain its edge even after prolonged usage.
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