Copper-base metal supply during the northern Vietnamese Bronze and Iron Ages: metallographic, elemental, and lead isotope data from Dai Trach, Thành Dên, Gò Mun, and Xuân Lâp

Abstract

We present the results of metallographic, elemental, and lead isotope analyses of one slag and 27 copper-base artefacts from northern Vietnam. These artefacts come from four sites: Dai Trach, Thành Dên, Gò Mun, Xuân Lâp and are attributed to the Đồng Đậu (ca. 1300–1000 BC), Gò Mun (ca. 1000–700 BC), and Đông Sơn (ca. 700 BC–100 AD) cultures, the two former being Bronze Age (18 samples) and the latter Iron Age (10 samples). Twenty-two of the samples have as-cast microstructures, with one having been quenched, three evidencing working and annealing, and one too corroded to tell. Despite variable corrosion levels, all metal samples are identified as bronzes, rather than copper, though seven are leaded bronzes. All the leaded alloys are Iron Age, which is typical for the region. Lead isotope results were notable, in that none of the study samples is consistent with the known prehistoric Southeast Asian copper production signatures, an unusual occurrence in recent regional provenance research. There is some compatibility with Thai Bronze Age copper-base artefacts, but generally it seems there was only weak overlap in exchange systems between northern Vietnam and southern Mainland Southeast Asia, with northern Laos as a possible frontier zone. Further archaeometallurgical prospection and characterisation in northern Vietnam are needed to identify primary production loci, but sources in the southern Chinese provinces of Yunnan, Guangxi, and Guangdong are also probable.