A scientific team has employed LIBS technology to analyze the elemental composition of early Iron Age surgical tools excavated in the Magadha region. The analysis revealed a remarkably high carbon content and a complete absence of sulfur impurities, indicating that ancient smiths had mastered high-temperature decarburization techniques as early as 500 BCE.
This level of metallurgical purity was previously thought to have been achieved only centuries later. The study concludes that the surgical implements—including lancets and forceps—were engineered for extreme hardness and sterilization, supporting ancient textual accounts of advanced medical procedures in the Sushruta Samhita.