copper-plate known as the Sohgaura copper-plate is a Maurya record that mentions famine relief efforts. It is one of the very few pre-Ashoka Brahmi inscriptions in India. Gold and silver The deepest gold mines of the Ancient world were found in the Maski region in Karnataka. There were ancient silver mines in northwest India. Dated to the middle of the 1st millennium BCE. Fine Sarees, Vēṭṭi, Kurta and etc were woven delicately with gold. Iron Recent excavations in Middle Ganges Valley show iron working in India may have begun as early as 1800 BCE. In the 5th century BCE, the Greek historian Herodotus observed that "Indian and the Persian army used arrows tipped with iron." Ancient Romans used armour and cutlery made of Indian iron. Pliny the Elder also mentioned Indian iron. Muhammad al-Idrisi wrote the Hindus excelled in the manufacture of iron, and that it would be impossible to find anything to surpass the edge from Hindwani steel. Quintus Curtius wrote about an Indian present of steel to Alexander. Ferrum indicum appeared in the list of articles subject to duty under Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Indian Wootz steel was held in high regard in Europe, and Indian iron was often considered to be the best. Wootz and steel The first form of crucible steel was wootz, developed in India some time around 300 BCE. In its production the iron was mixed with glass and then slowly heated and then cooled. As the mixture cooled the glass would bond to impurities in the steel and then float to the surface, leaving the steel considerably purer. Carbon could enter the iron by diffusing in through the porous walls of the crucibles. Carbon dioxide would not react with the iron, but the small amounts of carbon monoxide could, adding carbon to the mix with some level of control. Wootz was widely exported throughout the Middle East, where it was combined with a local production technique around 1000 CE to produce Damascus steel, famed throughout the world. Wootz derives from the Tamil term for steel urukku. Indian wootz steel was the first high quality steel that was produced. Henry Yule quoted the 12th-century Arab Edrizi who wrote: "The South Indians excel in the manufacture of iron, and in the preparations of those ingredients along with which it is fused to obtain that kind of soft iron which is usually styled Indian steel. They