Bronze Industry Research Articles

Revisiting the addition of tin and lead in Chinese bronzes: A statistical perspective

During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, China was distinctive for its use of leaded tin bronze, which diverged from bronzes in the Eurasian steppe. A reanalysis of published chemical data of late Shang and Western Zhou bronze vessels aimed to shed light on the purposeful addition of tin and lead. The findings demonstrate that the concentration of tin follows two separate patterns, with the predominant one stabilizing at about 15% and the secondary one spreading below 7%, reflecting diverse metallurgical practices. Furthermore, the linear variation between copper and lead (Cu-Pb) implies that lead was added to substitute for copper, probably owing to resource scarcity or copper shortages in the growing bronze industry of early states.

Separation or integration? Further insights from a study on chemical datasets of ancient bronze drums from South and Southeast Guangxi, China

Bronze drums of Types Beiliu and Lingshan, two of the eight types of bronze drums in China, represent the highest level of bronze industry in Guangxi during the Han and Tang dynasties. Because of their distinctive ethnic features and generous size, they have received significant attention. Through the study of 12 drums of Type Beiliu and 7 drums of Type Lingshan, the provenance of ore sources, ethnic characteristics, and their correlations are further discussed. According to the analysis results, the above two types of bronze drum share some common features in alloying patterns, lead isotope ratios, and trace elements. However, they exhibit differences in decorative traditions. This research concludes that although the above two types of bronze drums belong to different local powers, extensive communication existed regarding the boundary. A complex relationship of integration, separation, and confrontation existed among them, which was typical of ancient ethnic society.

The warrior aristocracy of the Late Bronze Age Urnfield Period in County Somogy, south-western Transdanubia. The Lengyeltóti V hoard (County Somogy/Hungary)

Abstract Discussed here is the presence of a warrior aristocracy in south-western Hungary, principally in County Somogy, during the early (and middle) Urnfield period (Br D–Ha A1-A2) based on the archaeological record. The period's offensive and protective weapons wielded by the warrior aristocracy during the Urnfield period (mid-thirteenth to ninth century BC) are exclusively known from hoards in this region; none have been recovered from burials. The Lengyeltóti V hoard contained a greave, a composite cuirass, a cheek-piece indicating the presence of a military aristocracy riding horses and wagons or chariots when going to battle and a realistic wheel model. The swords and spearheads were part of the period's offensive weaponry. The hoard's other articles represented the jewellery of the female aristocracy: a diadem, a torc and an ornamented disc pendant. The hoard contained over seven hundred items. In A. Mozsolics's view, the hoard could be assigned to the period lasting up to the close of the Hallstatt period (Ha A2). The rise of the warrior aristocracy began during the Br D, Br D/Ha A1 period, while its consolidation and heyday fell into the early Urnfield period (Ha A1). The aristocracy lived in hillforts – fortified settlements – which had a flourishing bronze industry. The number of settlements and burials declined drastically in the ensuing Ha B period in south-western Transdanubia.

Materiales metalúrgicos hallados en la ciudad de Ibiza (Islas Baleares)

The analyzes of six samples of slag found during urban development works in the city of Ibiza (Balearic Islands) are presented. These samples, which are one of the first samples of slag analyzed from the old town of Ibiza town, correspond to products from a metallurgical workshop dedicated to the bronze industry. The first three samples to be discussed are remains of ternary bronze metallic elements (copper, tin and lead) in the production phase. These metals would be mixed in ceramic vessels (crucibles), to which the last three samples correspond, which in some cases retain traces of these three elements (copper, tin and lead). These fragments of crucibles are made of clays rich in iron and lime, the addition of which is possibly intentional judging by historical parallels.

Effect of cooling rate on C92900 bronze microstructure and properties

In the mechanical engineering, antifriction tin bronzes are used for the manufacture of friction parts. For example, the C92900 bronze has found use in aircraft braking system components. One of the ways to improve the properties of leaded tin bronzes is to increase the cooling rate during solidification. This paper studies the effect of the cooling rate and changes in the content of alloying elements within the limits established by the C92900 bronze industry standard OST 1 90054-72. In order to provide different cooling rates, the prepared alloys were casted into molds made of resin-bonded sand, steel and graphite with cooling rates 0.4, 5.0, and 14.6 °C/s, respectively. The influence of the cooling rate and the bronze composition on the freezing range, macrostructure, microstructure, thermal conductivity, mechanical, and tribological properties were investigated. Differential thermal analysis demonstrated that the upper-limit alloying of C92900 bronze leads to a decrease of the solidus temperature by 40 °C, which should be considered during deformation processing and heat treatment. An increase in the cooling rate during C92900 bronze ingot solidification provides a significant grain refinement and changes the amount, size and morphology of phases. For example, in case of metallic and graphite mold casting, the size of lead particles decreases, and its circularity increases. The change in the Sn content within the range established by the industrial standard has a significant effect on the γ-(Cu,Ni)3Sn intermetallic phase fraction. The increase in the cooling rate has no significant effect on the C92900 bronze thermal conductivity but increases hardness by 30 HB as well as cooling rate and yield strength and ultimate tensile strength. Wear tests carried out in accordance with the «shaft – partial insert» scheme in a kerosene medium using a steel counterbody showed that an increase in the cooling rate during solidification leads to an increase in the bronze wear rate from ~0.4·10–8 to ~1.2·10–8. The change in the bronze composition within the industrial standard range has practically no effect on the wear rate but leads to a slight increase of the coefficient of friction.

Spatial investigation of technological choice and recycling in copper‐base metallurgy of the South Caucasus

Recent research has brought the prolific bronze industry of Bronze Age Colchis (modern western Georgia) into focus, but many aspects are still poorly understood. This study synthesizes and reinterprets legacy Cu alloy compositional data to investigate technological choices and spatial patterning. It reveals a massive injection of fresh copper into the system during the Late Bronze–Early Iron Age, and a high degree of selectivity in the alloys used for different objects, with colour being as important as hardness in determining these choices. Spatial analyses show significant geographical variability in alloying practices, which map onto topographical zones in unexpected ways. We also explore recycling practices and argue that the term encompasses a range of different reuse activities, which may be employed under differing economic conditions. Finally, the data suggest relatively extensive primary alloying of tin and copper in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages, which further substantiates the speculation that some local tin sources were exploited.

Iron oxide concretions as raw material for iron IIA iron metallurgy in the southern Levant: New evidence from Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel

Recent discovery and analysis of a series of iron production and manufacture sites and installations in the southern Levant opened the door for a variety of important studies concerning iron metallurgy in the region. However, the provenance of raw materials used to produce iron artifacts in the majority of these sites still eludes us. Based on new analytical data the present study suggests that the source of iron worked in the 9th century BCE iron smithy excavated at Tel Beth-Shemesh is local and comprises iron oxide concretions that are abundant at a few locations in the close vicinity of the site, and could have been easily collected for processing. This suggestion further emphasizes the localized and idiosyncratic character of the Iron Age sociotechnic systems of iron metallurgy which conspicuously differed from the complex international system of copper and tin trade that characterized the bronze industry of the 2nd millennium BCE in the region.

Provenance study on ‘Big bronze drums’: a method to investigate the ancient bronze industry of Guangxi, Southwest China from Han to Tang dynasty (around 200 BC–900 AC)

Previous provenance studies on bronze drums mainly focused on ore sources, yet ignored the significance of big bronze drum casting, which represents the highest level of bronze manufacturing techniques, as an important part of the bronze industry of a frontier region under the specific historical background. This paper, for the first time, not only presented the analytical results of the composition and the microstructure of 50 new samples from big bronze drums, but also compared their lead isotope to the published data of 196 samples from 7 types of bronze drum, as well as 112 ore samples from Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou Province and Vietnam. In addition, this paper introduced the casting tradition of bronze drums through both of composition analysis and metallographic examination. The comparison of lead isotope between the above 7 types and 4 regions indicated that there existed a very close relation among the bronze drums, and the local metal ore sources were generally employed to cast drums according to the convenient principles as well as the sphere of tribal influence. Nonetheless, both exchange and communication existed.

The Search Possibilities of the Ancient Ore Mining Sites in the North of the Kuznetsky Alatau

The foothills of the North-Western Kuznetsky Alatau are considered as the copper-ore base of the Tagar archaeological culture. The paper introduced some published data on copper deposits on the banks of the river Kia and the bordering area of the Kuznetsky Alatau. Map-marking revealed the geographical the connection between the Koghuh tectonic area, the Central-Martaiga structure-formaton area, and the Tagar archaeological sites. The research registered the known settlements on the Kemerovo region territory with signs of the bronze industry (copper-bronze artifacts, tools for ore crushing, slag) related to Tagar and transitional Tagar-Tashtik Epoch. The peculiarities of such sites demonstrated the localization of the bronze industry process in the some fortified and stable settlements. The comparison of geochemical admixtures revealed the differences of copper-ore origin at the developed stage of Tagar culture and the transitional Tagar-Tashtik stage. This can be explained by the difference in geography of the sites as related to the copper deposits of North-Western, Northern, and North-Eastern Kuznetsky Alatau foothills. The authors believe that the banks of the Kia and its left tributaries, the Koghuh and the Kundat, can reveal some ancient copper mining archaeological sites in the future.

Shimao and Erlitou: new perspectives on the origins of the bronze industry in central China

Over the last five years, excavation of a large, stone, fortified site at Shimao, on the northern edge of the Loess Plateau in Shaanxi Province, China, has radically changed our understanding of the events that precipitated the development of the first bronze casting in central China at Erlitou (Figure 1). An international conference on the Shimao site, held at Shenmu in August 2016, explored many aspects of this major discovery.

The Resonance of Osun across a Millennium of Lower Niger History

The arts of Nigeria are among the most studied of all African arts and yet there are still exceptional works about which we know very little. In this paper we offer an investigation of copper alloy works from the Lower Niger that demonstrate the extraordinary creativity and aesthetic power to which Fagg refers. These bell heads and their fantastic imagery have encouraged us to take a multidisciplinary approach, a synthesis that allows us to draw conclusions about the dating of these works and about the persistence of particular ways of thinking as embodied in ritual practices though several hundred years. Specifically, we investigate that period in sub-Saharan Africa from the inception of an art making use of copper and its alloys to the entry of coastal West Africa and its hinterlands into the Atlantic sea trade from the late fifteenth century onwards. What we are concerned with is that provisional category of works identified by William Fagg as the Lower Niger Bronze Industry (LNBI) (Fig. 1), sometimes pluralized, and sometimes including the group of castings known as the “Tsoede bronzes,” as well as the works excavated at Igbo-Ukwu (Fagg 1960, 1963, 1970; see also Anderson and Peek 2002; Craddock and Picton 1986; Peek 2013; Picton 1995, 2012; Shaw 1970, 1977; Willett 1967). It was Fagg’s hope that with the progress of archaeology the label could be dropped in favor of specific locations and casting sites, a hope yet to be realized. Moreover, in his enthusiasm for this diverse body of work, Fagg considered that the LNBI would prove more significant for the history of art in the Lower Niger region than Benin City, or even Ife, a possibility that is addressed in part in this paper. To those ends, therefore, this paper first addresses what we know of the archaeology and metallurgy of the Lower Niger region; and secondly proceeds by way of a synthesis of the available ethnographic data in regard to bells, heads, faces, and eyes, and the species represented in the imagery in these bell heads. Thereby, we draw out some ideas about the ritual environment of these works of art. It is in this latter context that we feel able to identify these bell heads with the domain of ritual practice known in Benin City as Osun, the deity1 and its associated rituals and arts. Finally, in selecting this group of works we hope that other as yet unpublished pieces in public and private collections will be brought to light.

Evolution of Mongolian bronze technology with the rise of the Xiongnu State

The emergence of the Xiongnu State in Mongolia reflected a period of increasing foreign influence, especially from China. Metallurgy was likely one of the key cultural components that may have reacted sensitively to this influence. In our ongoing project focusing on metallic objects excavated from the royal Xiongnu tomb at Golmod 2, we found a group of bronze artifacts possessing an important clue as to the general understanding of the contemporary Xiongnu bronze industry. The assemblage in question consists of 21 exotic ornaments, each nearly identical in shape and size and all associated with the horse-drawn wagons interred in the tomb. They were made of copper alloys containing on average 3.8 % arsenic, 3.0 % lead, and 1.3 % tin by weight. This recipe was a continuation of the unique steppe bronze tradition drawing on the copper-arsenic system as dictated by limited access to tin. The addition of lead, however, was a notable departure driven apparently by Xiongnu-Han interaction. This development likely reveals an important facet of the Xiongnu communities seeking a refined adjustment to the bronze recipe. This enhancement likely served to meet the growing demand for exotic items such as those under consideration, whose stylistic characteristics have led to erroneous conclusions as to the political affiliation of their producers.

Crucible technologies in the Late Bronze–Early Iron Age South Caucasus: copper processing, tin bronze production, and the possibility of local tin ores

The South Caucasus was a major center of metal production in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages. Nowhere is this more clear than in the hills and mountains in the southeastern Black Sea region (ancient Colchis), where exceptionally large numbers of metal production sites have been found. Chemical and microscopic analysis of slagged technical ceramics at these sites illuminates several aspects of both raw copper and tin bronze alloy production. Copper ores were smelted in a complex multi-stage process designed to extract metal from sulfide ores. Technical ceramics served as containers for a range of different reactions, from the first phase of smelting, in which the copper sulfides were likely consolidated into a matte, though later stages of matte processing and metal copper production in smaller crucibles. In addition, a single crucible fragment, recovered from a late 2nd millennium BC slag heap, demonstrates that tin bronze was created by the direct addition of cassiterite tin ore, probably of alluvial origin, to metallic copper. The crucible's context, the use of cassiterite ore rather than tin metal, and a review of local geology suggests that the tin used in this crucible came from nearby, with the most likely source being the Vakijvari and Bzhuzhi gorges roughly 10–15 km away. While a single fragment does not speak to the regularity of this practice, at the very least it raises the possibility that the Colchian bronze industry was based on local rather than imported tin.

Everything Old is New Again?

The transition to a cast iron industry was essential to the development of ancient China. Previous studies, however, did not address precisely how this process occurred and how the preexisting bronze industry could have served as the foundation for the transition. This paper develops a framework focusing on three parameters—techniques, assemblages of final products, and production organization—to investigate the mechanism of the transition to cast iron. Results of two case studies indicate that the three parameters do not demonstrate dramatic changes between the two industries. Also, cast iron and bronze foundry workers were not segregated; they often worked side by side at the same foundry. Very likely, the cast iron foundry workers adopted and adjusted the original bronze production techniques and, consequently, maintained the preexisting organization. This study illustrates how cast iron manufacturing developed based on the indigenous bronze production in the Central Plains of China, and aims more broadly to contribute to the discussion of technological transitions in archaeological contexts.

Vulcan's forge in Venus' City: the story of bronze in Venice, 1350-1650

I. The Significance of Bronze II. State Control of the Bronze Industry III. The State Bronze Foundries IV. The Independent Bronze Foundries V. The Employment of State Gun-Founders VI. The Employment of Independent Founders VII. Bells VIII. Large Functional Bronzes IX. Large Bronze Sculpture X. Small Bronze Sculpture and Artefacts Appendix: Corpus of Selected Documents

The Origins of the Bronze Age of Southeast Asia

White and Hamilton (J World Prehist 22: 357–97, 2009) have proposed a model for the origin of the Southeast Asian Bronze Age founded on seven AMS radiocarbon determinations from the Northeast Thai site of Ban Chiang, which would date the initial Bronze Age there to about 2000 BC. Since this date is too early for the derivation of a bronze industry from the documented exchange that linked Southeast Asia with Chinese states during the 2nd millennium BC, they have identified the Seima-Turbino 3rd millennium BC forest-steppe technology of the area between the Urals and the Altai as the source of the Southeast Asian Bronze Age. We challenge this model by presenting a new chronological framework for Ban Chiang, which supports our model that the knowledge of bronze metallurgy reached Southeast Asia only in the late 2nd millennium BC, through contact with the states of the Yellow and Yangtze valleys.

CONTRASTING SUBSISTENCE STRATEGIES IN THE EARLY IRON AGE? - NEW RESULTS FROM THE ALFÖLD PLAIN, HUNGARY, AND THE THRACIAN PLAIN, BULGARIA

What can students of the past do to establish the predominant land-use and settlement practices of populations who leave little or no artefactual discard as a testament to their lifeways? The traditional answer, especially in Eastern Europe, is to invoke often exogenous nomadic pastoralists whose dwelling in perpetuo mobile was based on yurts, minimal local ceramic production and high curation levels of wooden and metal containers. Such a lacuna of understanding settlement structure and environmental impacts typifies Early Iron Age (henceforth ‘EIA’) settlements in both Bulgaria and eastern Hungary – a period when the inception of the use of iron in Central and South-East Europe has a profound effect on the flourishing regional bronze industries of the Late Bronze Age (henceforth ‘LBA’). The methodological proposal in this paper is the high value of palynological research for subsistence strategies and human impacts in any area with a poor settlement record. This proposal is illustrated by two new lowland pollen diagrams – Ezero, south-east Bulgaria, and Sarlo-hat, north-east Hungary – which provide new insights into this research question. In the Thracian valley, there is a disjunction between an area of high arable potential, the small size and short-lived nature of most LBA and EIA settlements and the strong human impact from the LBA and EIA periods in the Ezero diagram. In the Hungarian Plain, the pollen record suggests that, during the LBA–EIA, extensive grazing meadows were established in the alluvial plain, with the inception of woodland clearance on a massive scale from c.800 cal BC, that contradicts the apparent decline in human population in this area. An attempted explanation of these results comprises the exploration of three general positions – the indigenist thesis, the exogenous thesis and the interactionist thesis. Neither of these results fits well with the traditional view of EIA populations as incoming steppe nomadic pastoralists. Instead, this study seeks to explore the tensions between local productivity and the wider exchange networks in which they are entangled.

Ways of the Rivers: Arts and Environment of the Niger Delta

Part one - Early history, trade and contact: Lower Niger bronze industries and the archaeology of the Niger Delta from middlemen to missionaries bulletproof - exploring the warrior ethos in Ijo culture. Part two - Environment and cultural confluence: from river horses to dancing sharks - canoes and fish in Ijo art and ritual the Isoko as a delta people celebrating water spirits - influence, confluence and difference in Ijebu-Yoruba and Delta masquerades Part three - Arts and identity: everyone to his quarter - ethnic interaction, emulation and change in Itsekiri visual culture tricks of the trade - a study of Ikakibite (cloth of the tortoise) among the Eastern Ijo the arts of the Ogoni fitting farewells - the fine art of Kalabari funerals. Conclusion - reflections - looking back on our journey. Appendix: crosscurrents and confluences - linguistic clues to cultural development.

A review of archaeology in mainland Southeast Asia

This article outlines recent advances in establishing and understanding the prehistoric sequence in mainland Southeast Asia. Research has been unevenly distributed, varying from virtually none in Cambodia to a marked intensity in Hong Kong and the adjoining mainland. A new pattern is becoming apparent, due in no small part to the new findings in southern China. It is argued that despite its long history of occupation, beginning withHomo erectus almost a million years ago, tropical Southeast Asia was occupied by scattered inland groups and larger, possibly sedentary coastal foragers until exposed to intrusive agricultural societies during the third millennium BC. These communities, which originated ultimately in the Yangzi Valley, brought with them rice cultivation and were responsible for the wide distribution of Austroasiatic languages. The three divisions of this language superfamily are now distributed from eastern India to southern China. Following a relatively brief Neolithic period, small and autonomous communities, particularly in Lingnan and Bac Bo (Guangdong and Guangxi provinces of China and the area of the Red River Delta), were exposed to exchange contact with the Shang state of the Chinese Central Plains, and this brought exotic jades and bronzes. Within this context, a local bronze industry was established between 1500 and 1000 BC over much of Southeast Asia, but without any obvious social developments until the middle of the first millennium BC, when several major changes occurred. These incorporated iron smelting and forging and exposure in the southern parts of the region to Indian mercantile contact and along the northern margins to the expanding Chinese empire. Adaptations varied regionally, from the establishment of warrior chiefdoms to counter the Chinese to the construction of water control systems in the arid heart of Southeast Asia to alleviate environmental unpredictability. It is within these regional changes that we can identify trends toward the establishment of states, some of which persisted in an unbroken lineage to the present.

The faerie smith meets the bronze industry: Magic versus science in the interpretation of prehistoric metal‐making

Abstract In this article we address the question of the emergence and development of copper and iron metallurgy in Eurasia in relation to a historical debate within archaeology and archaeometallurgy concerning appropriate technological scales and social organizational models. We believe that the concepts of large‐scale extraction and production and concomitant reconstruction of specialized activities and monoplex social roles that figure strongly in the prevailing, orthodox ‘industrial model’ are either underdetermined or unsupported by archaeological data. Such concepts represent an anachronistic back‐projection of the modern notion of technological change as driven by rational science. We suggest that ritual and magical dimensions need to be given a more central place in interpretation and hypothesis formulation, and we tentatively suggest a broad social‐developmental perspective that would incorporate them.