A provenience study of Bronze Age metal objects from the Hami Basin, Xinjiang, China

Abstract

Lead isotopic analysis on metals of the Bronze Age of Hami Basin (1800-400 BCE) principally focus on the early sites such as the Tianshanbeilu cemetery and Liushugou Site. Opinions on their provenience are wildly divergent. This research presents 29 lead isotope data of metals from Wupu cemetery (1000-400 cal BCE) as an important site from the late period and ten from Tianshanbeilu cemetery as well as their chemical composition and metallographic structure. Combined with existing data, this article comprehensively discusses the possibly existing circulation network of metal resources between the Hami Basin and the other three areas, namely the southern Altai Mountains, the Hexi Corridor, and the West Tianshan Mountains during the Bronze Age, and provides a new understanding of the role played by the Hami Basin in the Bronze Age as one of the cultural passageways linking the eastern Eurasian steppe and the Hexi Corridor.