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Atharva Skambha Sukta (X.7) has been referenced in the context of the fire-altars with animal bones, terracotta cakes, yupa, skambha, yaṣṭi, vajra.
Binjor fire-altar with octagonal yaṣṭi provides evidence of Vedic continuum in Indus script Corpora. The Binjor fire-altar with an octagonal yupa provides conclusive evidence for the continuum of Rigvedic tradition of fire-worship in Sarasvati-Sindhu civilization. Yupa, skambha, yaṣṭi, vajra refer to a stele implanted in yajna-s. Rigveda details how Dadhyanc bones are fabricated as Indra's vajra weapon
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/12/indus-script-corpora-archaeological.html Indus Script Corpora, archaeological evidence of terracotta cakes, animal bones explained in the context of metallurgy, cupellation, purification of metals in early Bronze Age
The following three ricas of Rigveda also refer to and explain the metaphor of skambha as a prop which upholds heaven and earth; RV 9.89.6 places it in the context of purification of Soma, reinforcing the possibility that the Skambha signified the impeller of the purification process of yajna -- a process which is replicated in the purification of metals in a smelter/funace/fire-altar:
10.111.05 Indra, the counterpart of heaven and earth, is cognizant of all sacrifices, he is the slayer of S'us.n.a; he spread out the spacious heaven with the sun (to light it up); best of proppers, he propped up (the heaven) with a prop. [Propped up the heaven with a prop: Satyata_ta_ = that which is stretched out by the true ones, the gods; or, ta_ti as a suffix, that which is true, i.e., heaven].
9.074.02 The supporter of heaven, the prop (of the earth), the Soma-juice who, widely spreading, filling (the vessels), flows in all directions-- may he unite the two great worlds by his own strength; he has upheld them combined; (may he) the sage (bestow) food upon (his worshippers). [The prop of the earth: cf. RV. 9.089.06; may he unite: yaks.at = sam.yojayatu; a_vr.ta = by its own unaided strength].
9.089.06 The prop of heaven, the support of earth-- all beings (are) in his hands; may (Soma) the fountain (of desires) be possessed of horses for you (his) adorer; the filament of the sweet-flavoured (Soma) is purified for (the sake of winning) strength.
A terracotta cake is a piṇḍa पिण्ड [p=625,2] m. (rarely n.) any round or roundish mass or heap , a ball , globe , knob , button , clod , lump , piece (cf. अयः-. , मांस- &c ) RV. (only i , 162 , 19 and here applied to lumps of flesh) TS. S3Br.&c; n. ( L. ) iron; steel (Monier-Williams. Samskritam). What archaeometallurgical functions were served by the terracotta cakes offered as piṇḍa पिण्ड in fire-altars?
I do not know the answer. It is, however, possible to present a reconstruction of the archaeometallurgical processes of cementation and cupellation in fire-altars to purify metals such as electrum (gold-silver compounds in pyrites) oxiding metals such as lead which get separated as litharges.
One possibility is that the terracotta cake with an Indus Script inscription in Kalibangan signified a furnace smelting function. See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/12/indus-script-corpora-archaeological.html
Could such triangular and circular cakes have served as supports to stabilise/hold in position the cupels which were saucer-like pottery to function as 'bowl hearths' to oxidise lead in silver-lead alloys?
One possibiity is that the terracotta cakes were perceived as 'carriers' together with parting agents of salt, alum or sulfides to part gold from silver in electrum compound in a process called 'cementation'.
This process of 'cementation' was followed by the process of 'cupellation' to oxidise lead as litharge.
Explaining a process in Sardis for recovering gold and silver from electrum, two ste[s are detailed: cementation and cupellation. It is possible that this is the closest description of the processes involved in purification of soma in agniSToma, assuming that soma was electrum [assem (Egyptian), somnakay'gold' (Gypsy), samanom'god' (Santali)] or a mAkSikA'pyrite'. माक्षिक n. a kind of honey-like mineral substance or pyrites MBh. mfn. (fr. मक्षिका) coming from or belonging to a bee Ma1rkP.
Step 1: Cementation was conducted in small brick ovens. Large pieces of electrum were hammered into thin sheets. The thin sheets of electrum were sandwiched between layers of a parting agent, probably salt (also sulfides, including alum) together with 'carriers' of clay or brick dust. The sandwiches were filled in coarse pottery containers which were paced in ovens and heated at relatively low temperatures of about 800 degrees C for many hours, perhaps even days. “During the heating, salt vapours attacked the electrum to convert the silver to silver chloride which was absorbed by nearby clay mateials, including 'carrier' clay or brick dust, the pottery containers and the furnace bricks.” http://sardisexpedition.org/en/essays/latw-greenewalt-gold-silver-refiningAfter treatment, the gold was basically pure.
Step 2: After cementation, the gold was tested, or 'assayed' to determine its purity. “The silver removed from the electrum during cementation was valuable, and to recover it, the clays of the parting vessels, salt, brick and clay dust ('carriers') and furnace bricks that had absorbed silver salts during cementation were first smelted with lead. Two fragments that may belong to a smelting furnace were recovered in excavaton at sector PN. Smelting transformed the silver salts to metallic silver and combined it with the lead. The silver and lead were then separated through cupellation. The 'cupels' (better called 'bowl hearths', since their form differs from those described by literary sources), were porous-walled, saucer-shaped hollows in the ground surface (Fig.A). The silver-lead alloy was placed in the bottom of the hollows, covered with fuel, and heating in an oxidizing atmosphere up to about 1100 degrees C, by means of bellows. The combination of heat and oxygen oxidises base metals, it transformed the lead into lead oxide, or litharge, and isolated the silver, often in concentrations of button-like form (Fig.B), which could be easily removed.”
Figure A: Litharge “cake,” the byproduct of cupellation, showing the hollow in its top surface where a “button” of silver has collected and been removed (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard
Figure B. Cupels for recovering metallic silver from lead at sector PN (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College).
Nima Nezafati et al present archaeometallurgical evidences for the process of cupellation tracing many examples from sites in Ancient Near East. These are briefly presented in this note.
Fig. 1 Figures mentioned in the text.
Figure 2: a) Cupellation hearth fragment from Tappeh Sialk, southern mound, trench M30 b) A twin cupellation hearth (litharge cake) from Arisman, c) Part of the ancient diggings in the Duna mine, d) A lead (-silver) vein in the Nakhlak mine, e) Part of the ancient diggings in the Nakhlak mine, f) Crudeiron pick and nail from Nakhlak, g) Wooden shoes and a lamp from Nakhlak.
Several mining tools including some stone tools, iron picks, hammers, wooden shoes, lamps etc. were recovered in the diggings (Holzer & Ghasempour 1973; Stolner et al 2004).
“According to Limet (1960), textual indications for the ultimate sources of the silver used in Mesopotamia are singularly rare and meagre...Pettinato (1972), in his review of the Sumerian literary evidence, listed such relatively well-known regions in Ira, the Persian Gulf and the Indus Valley, as Aratta, Dilmun, Elam, Marhashi, and Meluhha...The best known remains from cupellation technique are so-called litharge cakes. Silver smelting and refining are among the odest metallurgical processes known to mankind. The technology has survived for several thousand years with hardly any changes until the middle of of this century (Bayley & Eckstein 1997). Pieces of litharge proofig fourth illennium BCE silver production from lead ores are now known from at least four sites in the Near and Middle East: Habuba Kabira, an outpost of the Uruk culture on the middle Euphrates (Pernicka et al 1998), Fatmali-Kalecik near Keban (Hess et al 19980, Arisman (Momenzadeh & Nezafati 2001), and Tappeh Sialk (Nokandeh & Nezafati 2003; Malk Shalmirzadi 2003). In Iran, recent archaeological investigations on the ancient sites of Tappeh Sialk (Nokandeh 2002; 2004; Roustaii 2002; Malek Shahmirzadi 2003; Nokandeh & Nezafati 2003), Arisman (Momenzadeh & Nezafati 2001), and Tappeh Hissar (Roustaii 2004) have unearthed numerous fragments of litharge which mainly belong to Sialk III-IV and Hissar II-III periods (Fig.1). At Tappeh Sialk the litharge fragments and cakes (Fig. 2a) have been found on the southern mound (Section A and trenches M30-M31 and N31) and Trench B (along with slag pieces). Pieces of charcoal found in one of the furnaces in which litharge fragments were found provided a radiocarbon date of 3660-3520 BCE which introduces them as the oldest so far known fragments of such process in the ancient world. In Arisman several litharge cakes (which are in cases twin cakes, Fig 2b) and fragments have been found in Arisman I, areas B and C which correlate Sialk III-IV period. At Tappeh Hissar the rescue excavation of the site (by E. Yaghmaii 1998, due to railroad constructions) has revealed several litharge fragments in Hissar II and III periods (Roustaii 2004)...Silver production by cupellation is a two-step process. In the first step, the argentiferous ore is smelted at high temperature under reducing conditions to ensure that all silver present is reduced and taken up by the lead. At this stage, the silver partition into the lead and almost none lost to the slag. This lead still preserves the trace element pattern of the ore deposit as far as those metals are concerned, which are taken up by the lead. These include gold, silver, copper, zinc, arsenic, bismuth, antimony, and tellurium. The second step is a selective oxidation of everything except the noble metals leaving silver and, if present, gold behind (Craddock 1995). Galena can be smelted directly without the need for roasting. If the ore does not contain suitable gangue some slag forming materials have to be added. Most impurities are collected in the slag which usually contains upto 30% lead. Actually, in antiquity one did not even attempt to increase the yield for lead. As long as some lead metal formed it would take up all of the silver and this was the principal aim of the operation. ..In a moderately oxidizing atmosphere the reactions are: 2 PbS + 3 O2 – 2 PbO + 2 SO2; 2 PbO + PbS – 3 PB + SO2; 2 PBS + 4 O2 – 2 PBSO4; PbS + PbSO24 – 2 PB + 2 SO2. The cupellation (selective oxidation) is usually performed in a crucible charged with lead and fuel. A shallow bowl or a simple hole dug into the ground can serve as a reaction vessel for this process as long as there is a strong current of air on the surface of molten lead. Pb + O2 – PbO + Pb (Ag). The lead is heated to approximately 9000 degrees C, which is above the melting temperature of litharge (886 degrees C) to make sure the litharge is liquid and wil not trap any molten metal. At the end of the process, the necessary temperature mounts up to 1000 degrees C due to the higher melting pint of silver (960 degrees C). Lead oxidizes preferentially to form litharge PBO, which abrorbs or dissolves the oxides of most of the other metals. The liquid litharge (:PbO) being less dense than the molden lead (Pb(Ag) will float on top and prevent further oxidation of the lead. As the aim is to oxidize all the lead present, the litharge has to be removed during the cupellation process. Fortunately, liquid litharge has a very low surface tension and easily impregnates a porous hearth lining (Pernieka 1990, 58). The molten metal, having a higher surface tension than litharge, will remain in the reaction vessel, unless there are some cracks. In this case some of the metal will be trapped mechanically. The choice of the material for the hearth lining is very important, especially if the rection vessel is heated from below, as silicates and many other oxides have loweutectic points with litharge (approximately 700 degrees C for SiO2 and PbO, Kuxmann & Fischer 1974, 536). A hearth lining made of ordinary clay will melt at temperatures between 700 degrees C and 900 degrees C. During the Middle Ages hearth linings were made of bone and mixed with binder. Today crucibles for cupellation – a process still in use to assess the purity of the noble metals – are prepared from MgO...Antimony and arsenic oxidize and evaporate at the beginning of the cupellation process. Therefore, the first litharge formed may be rich in antimony, arsenic, and tin. Copper oxidizes slowly but long before the cupellation is finished Bismuth is difficult to remove ad a considerable fraction may remain in the finished artefact (Pernicka & Bachmann 1983). Lead oxidises continuously, which increases the silver content of the lead. At the end, the silver left may contain up to several percent of lead depending on how intensely it has been cupelled. The process of cupellation will leave three different kinds of materials: solid litharge, hearth lining impregnated with litharge, and silver. Pure litharge consists of lead oxide (PbO).
“...According to the archaeological (finding the oldest silver find and the oldest ligtharge cake), ancient textual, and analytical evidence the authors can strongly suggest that, based on the present level of knowledge, the Central Iranian Plateau has been the birthplace of the silver extraction by cupellation and the first supplier of the ore concerned. ”
(Nima Nezafati & Ernst Pernicka, Early silver production in Iran, in: Iranian Archaeoogy, No. 2, 2011) https://www.academia.edu/8122713/Early_silver_production_in_Iran
“Before the introduction of smelting copper minerals or native copper were used unprocessed (usually as ornaments) or were processed by cold-working or annealing in order to produc simple tools. The earliest examples of such utilization have been reported from the west of the Zagros Mountains (Zawi Chemi, northeastern Iraq, late tenth millennium BCE, and Ali-Kosh, Iran, early seventh millennium BCE) and eastern Anatolia (Caynu Tepesi, lte ninth millennium BCE) (Solecki 1969; Cambel & Braidwood 1970; Hole et al 1969; Heskel 1983). Most of these early objects along with the the sixth millennium BCE copper objects from Tappeh Giyan (northern Luristan), Tappeh Sialk (near Kashan), Tappeh Yahya as well as Tal-ki Iblis (Kernan province), and Tappeh Zaqeh (Qazvin plain west of Teheran) consist of native copper (Perncka 1990), as far as they have been analysed. The emergene of smelting is identified with the occurrence of slag and metallurgical furnaces. It may be no coincidence that the earliest appearances of such slag so far were reported only from Iran, namely from Tal-i Iblis, Tappeh Sialk, Arisman, Tappeh Ghabristan and Tappeh Zaqeh, all dated to the late fifth millennium BCE. It is during the Chalcolithic that the use of copper expanded significantly (Pernicka 2004).”
Figure 3: a) Hand specimen size of the Darhand ore with distinct colours of red and green due to native copper, cuprite, and malachite; b) Native copper found on the surface of the Darband occurrence, c) Possible ancient digging relics in the Meskani mine, d) Possible ancient diggings in th Bagh Ghorogh mine, e) Remains of ancient diggings in the Dorrch mine, f) Part of ancient diggings in the Veshnaveh mine.
Figure 4: a) An overview of the ancient mine at Deh Hosein with part of its ancient diggings, b) A hammer stone of silicified phyllite found in one of the diggings of Deh Hosein, c) Cassiterite in Fe-oxides from the ore of Deh Hosein, d) Part of the old (or ancient) diggings in the Chah Palang ine, 3) A twin cupellation hearth (litharge cake) from Arisman, f) Part of the ancient diggings in the Duna mine; g) Part of the ancient diggings in the Nakhlak mine, h) A lead (-silver) vein in the Nahkhlak mine.
"Mineralization with presence of copper, cuprite, tenorite and copper oxides has been reported from Darhand (near Natanz, close to the Arisman ancient metallurgical site, Figures 3a and 3b)...The recent geological and archaeometric investigations on the newly discovered ancient copper-tin mine at Deh Hosein have revealed a pivotal clue for resolving the old question of tin source in the ancient Western Asia. Deh Hosein is located c. 45 km southwest of Arak city in the eastern part of the central Zagros Mountains which form the northeastern border of Luristan. The ancien workings consist of numerous big ellipsoidal open depressions (Figure 4a). Several hammer stones, grinding stones and pottery shrds were found in the open cast mines and adjacent ancient settlements (Figure 4b). The mineralogical and geochemical researches indicate presence of several copper minerals along with arsenopyrite and cassiterite with several percent of copper, tin, and arsenic in the ore...The recent discovery of several cakes and fragments o litharge from the ancient sites of Siak, Arisman and Hissar in Iran along with silver finds of Tappeh Sialk and Tappeh Hissar present strong evidence for early silver production in the central Iranian Plateau."
http://tinyurl.com/oyudvyy
S. Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Center
December 19, 2015
Sarasvati Research Center
December 19, 2015