Today we drove to the Qutab Minar in Delhi, a 12th-century monument from India’s Muslim past.  The tower part of it (the Minar) is about 240 feet high and is made of quartzite and marble.  The grounds are full of beautiful ruins – arches, walls and gates with delicately carved stone ornamentation.

Also there is a mysterious Iron Pillar that dates from a much earlier time than the Minar.  It may be from the 12th century BC, which would make it over 3000 years old.  It has not rusted in all that time because it is so pure; it’s 99.7% iron.  Iron as pure as that doesn’t rust easily, not even in India’s warm and humid climate.  It’s not obvious how ancient people forged such pure iron and as a result all kinds of sensational and improbable theories have been proposed about it.

We got to this place by driving – no metro today.  So, it took a while.

Tomorrow we leave Delhi and go to the Himalayas to do some science.