Technology and evolution: a root and branch view of Asian iron from first-millennium bc Sri Lanka to Japanese steel

Abstract

Evidence for a previously unrecognized pan-Asian metallurgical tradition of linear configuration iron-smelting furnaces is reviewed. The foundation of this technological lineage lies in an evolutionary series of excavated furnaces in Sri Lanka dating from the fourth century bc to the eleventh century ad. Further archaeological, ethnographic and documentary evidence from Burma, Cambodia, Sarawak and Japan demonstrates the spread of linear furnace technology and its association with the production of high-carbon steels, often associated with weapons manufacture. An evolutionary approach is used to argue that a process of memetic inheritance explains a major divergence in Eastern and Western metallurgical development and furnace design.