Tentative determination of a special bronze material by multiple technological test on a xuan-liu dagger-axe from the Xujialing Site, the Eastern Zhou period, Henan Province, China

Abstract

Abstract Some words on bronze inscriptions that may refer to the names of metal raw materials are always under discussion. One of the most frequent term is ‘xuan-liu’ ( ), which found in the inscriptions of many objects such as weapons, musical instruments and vessels of Zhou dynasty. Previous scholars have interpreted its meaning through philology and paleography, but opinions differ widely. Scientific data by modern techniques could provide some innovative and profound evidence. Hence, a series of scientific tests including metallographic observation, FTIR, EDXRF, ICP-AES, on a precious xuan-liu dagger-axe from the Xujialing site, Henan Province, were carried out in this work, while compared with other three bronze vessels with typical Chu style in the same site, whose compositions and lead isotopes can be used as context for better understanding the technological level and raw material origin of the xuan-liu dagger-axe. By comparison to the composition data of some other dagger-axes, as well as the lead isotope data of the same period bronze wares from the adjacent area and geological background, some conclusions were gotten. First, the xuan-liu dagger-axe was perfectly made and the inlaid gold thread has a high quality and purity. Second, the ratio of copper to tin is about three to one, close to the recommended alloy ratios in ancient books. Third, it is probably a local product from the State of Chu rather than Wu. Based on this information, we have excluded some of the previous points of view and incline to the opinion that ‘xuan-liu’ may indicate a particular kind of tin ore.