Ancient gold mining activity in the Hutti-Muski greenstone belt, Karnataka, India
Present gold-producing centres of India have witnessed ancient and modern mining activities. The presence of wood logs, ash, charcoal and pottery in ancient gold mines of Kolar, Hutti and Uti suggests fire setting was the main mode of gold exploitation of ancient miners. In the absence of historical records pertaining to the episodes of ancient mining activity in Karnataka, wood material found in the ancient gold workings were used to constrain the episodes of mining activity.