During a hydroelectric plant project, in the southern foothills of the Central Highlands, Samanalawewa, in Sri Lanka, a wind-driven furnace was found in an excavation site. Such furnaces were powered by the monsoon winds and have been dated to 300 BC using radiocarbon-dating techniques. These ancient Lankan furnaces might have produced the best-quality steel for legendary Damascus swords as referred in earlier Syrian records. Field trials using replica furnaces confirmed that this furnace type uses a wind-based air-supply principle that is distinct from either forced or natural draught, and show also that they are capable of producing high-carbon steel.
Wrought iron was used in the construction of monuments such as the iron pillar of Delhi, built in the third century AD during the Gupta Empire. The latter was built using a towering series of disc-shaped iron blooms. Similar to China, high-carbon steel was eventually used in India, although cast iron was not used for architecture until modern times.