Archaeological explorations and excavations at Zawar have revealed sufficient evidence to enable us to reconstruct the technology that was used in the production of zinc in ancient India. Radiocarbon assay of two wood samples, one of them obtained from a launder and the other from a scaffold, both found at a depth of 100 m in the galleries of old sphalarite mines at Zawar, has given dates of 2120±60 bp and 1920±50 bp. Production of zinc presents special problems because the boiling point of the metal is lower than the minimum temperature necessary for extraction of zinc from zinc oxide.