Superior Steel Manufacturers of the Ancient World
Ancient Sri Lanka was one of the few ancient civilizations at the time that where capable of the mass manufacture and distribution of high quality steel (300 B.C.). Trading partners included the Persian Empire and Indian Kingdoms. It was said, that the Ancient Sinhalese had developed methods of extracting 1 ton of steel from every 2 ton of soil, which was unmatchable for any civilization at the time.
The Ancient Sinhalese had also ingeniously created unique wind smelters high in the mountains. From these smelters they were capable of producing swords with beautiful patterns which were renowned in carrying an extremely hard edge. Check out the video below which shows these 2000 year old smelters.
The talents of the Ancient Sri Lankan steel smiths are exemplified by their creation of the famous curling blade (flexible whip blade). This type of sword is regarded as one of the most difficult weapons to master and was pioneered by Ancient Sri Lankan Kingdoms.
If you are interested, in Sri Lanka’s ancient steel smelters, here is a link to an article that contains more information:
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/06/science/ancient-smelter-used-wind-to-make-high-grade-steel.html
