THE GOLD

Gold During the Middle Ages

The early Indian (Hindu) and Chinese philosophers perceived matter in terms of four material elements, earth, water, air, and fire (light), in much the same way as those in Asia Minor and the Mediterranean. Alchemy was also practiced at an early stage in both the Indian and Chinese civilizations, and as mentioned previously may actually have originated in China before our era. Like Western alchemists, the Chinese also believed in the transmutation of the elements in the earth.

According to Allehin (1962) bedrock gold mining in India declined in southern India in the early part of the third century A.D., evidently due to the breakup of slavery as a social institution. Another factor, particularly in the Hutti and Kolar fields, appears to have been that the rich auriferous oxidized zones were worked out and water problems were encountered with which the miners could not cope. Placer mining, however, continued over much of India during medieval times but only on a small and local scale. The decline in gold mining is reflected in the literature of the Gupta period (A.D. 320-500), the period of some seven centuries marked by an endless succession of internal wars and foreign invasions, and by the Delhi Muslim Sultanate, founded in A.D. 1206 and ended in 1526 with the establishment of the Mogul Dynasty. Nowhere, as far as I can find, does the literature of these periods deal with gold and its deposits in more than a cursory manner. Professor J. Needham (1959, p. 650) has given us an admirable account of the geological sciences in ancient China in his Science and Civilization in China. In this work there is a passage dealing with the formation of mineral deposits written by Chang Szu-Hsiao, who died in A.D. + 1332.
"In the subterranean regions there are alternate layers of earth and rock and flowing spring waters. These strata rest upon thousands of vapours (chi), which are (distributed in) tens of thousands of branches, veins and thread (-like openings). (There are substances there) both soft and firm, ever flowing back and forth, and undergoing transformations. (The veins are) slanting and delicate, like axles interlocking and communicating. (It is like a) machine (chi) rotating in the depths, (and the circulation takes place as if the veins had) intimate mutual connections (and as if) there were piston bellows (at work). The mysterious network (hsiian kang) spreads out and joins together every part of the roots of the earth. The (innermost parts of the earth are) neither metal nor stone nor earth nor water (as we know them). Thousands and ten thousands of horizontal and vertical veins like warp and weft weave together in mutual embrace. Millions of miles of earth are as if hanging and floating on a sea boundlessly vast. Taking all (including land and sea) as earth, the secret and mystery is that the roots communicate with each other. The natures, veins, colours, tastes and sounds, both of the earth, the waters, and the stones, differ from place to place. So also the animals, birds, herbs, trees and all natural products, have different shapes and natures in different places.
Now if the chi of the earth (ti chi) can get through (the veins), then the water and the earth (above) will be fragrant and flourishing ... and all men and things will be pure and wise.... But if the chi of the earth is stopped up (sai), then the water and earth and natural products (above) will be bitter, cold and withered ... and all men and things will be evil and foolish.... The body of the earth is like that of a human being. In men there is much heat in and under the watery abdominal organs (shui tsang); if this were not so, they could not digest their food nor do their work. So also the earth below the aqueous region is extremely hot; if this were not so, it could not 'shrink' all the waters (so chu shui) (i.e. evaporate them and leave mineral deposits), and it could not drive off all the (aqueous) Yin chi (hsiao chu Yin chi). Ordinary people, not being able to see the veins and vessels, which are disposed in order within the body of man, think that it is no more than a lump of solid flesh. Likewise, not being able to see the veins and vessels, which are disposed in order under the ground, they think that the earth is just a (homogeneous) mass. They do not realise that heaven, earth, human beings, and natural things, all have their dispositions and organizations (wen li). Even a thread of smoke, a broken bit of ice, a tumbledown wall or an old tile, all have their dispositions and organizations. How can anyone say that the earth does not have its dispositions and organizations?"

In this passage we have an exposition, albeit rather convoluted, of the precipitation of mineral matter from aqueous solutions and an intimation of the theory of lateral and metamorphic secretion. The comparison of the manifestations of the earth with the human body is interesting in that similar analogies were made by a number of medieval European alchemists.

Gold is mentioned in many of the works of the early Chinese philosophers. Needham (1959, p. 674) quotes two that are of interest. The first is from the Kuan Tzu book.
"Huang Ti said, 'I should like to know about these things.' Po Kao answered, 'Where there is cinnabar above, yellow gold will be found below. Where there is magnetite above, copper and gold will be found below. Where there is ling shih above, lead, tin, and red copper will be found below. Where there is haematite (che) above, iron will be found below. Thus it can be seen that the mountains are full of riches.'"
and the second from the Pen Tshao Shih I of A.D. +725.
"Generally one sees those who search for gold dig down into the earth for several feet until they come to a stone called ffln tzu shih ('tangle-stone') (which accompanies the gold). This is always in black lumps, as if charred, and underneath it is the gold-bearing ore, also in lumps, some as large as one's finger, others as small as beans, and coloured a mulberry yellow. When first dug out it is friable."

Geologists will recognize that the statements in both quotations represent probably the first attempts to describe zoning in gold deposits. The "tangle stone" is evidently limonite and/or wad from the description. Quite frequently, gold is greatly enriched where black manganese or wad and limonite are developed in the oxidized zones of gold deposits. The gold referred to as a mulberry yellow colour is evidently secondary (or mustard) gold, which is often friable or pulverulent. Needham (1959, p. 675) also quotes some surprising information about early Chinese knowledge concerning the association of plants and mineral deposits and about the use of geobotanical and biogeochemical prospecting in China as far back as A.D. 800. The statement about the plant indicators of silver and gold in the Yu- Yang Tsa Tsu is of interest.

When in the mountains there is the tshung plant (the ciboule onion), then below silver will be found. When in the mountains there is the hsiai plant (a kind of shallot), then below gold will be found. When in the mountains there is the chiang plant (ginger), then below copper and tin will be found. If the mountain has precious jade, the branches of the trees all around will be drooping.

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Gold in: Gold 1 2 Primitive Classic Medieval Renaissance post-Renaissance period.
Gold: Deposits Transport

Rafal Swiecki, geological engineer email contact
February, 2008

This document is in the public domain.