Piece Of Bronze Research Articles

Examination of archaeological bronze parts using micro-computed tomography and metallography

Abstract Archeological finds, such as old coins among which some show signs of corrosion, are, in general, unique pieces even though several copies exist of individual types. Subferrati, Roman coins with an iron core and a bronze coating, for instance, could be examined by conventional computed tomography (CT). The CT image allows an easy distinction of corrosion products, metallic iron, and the bronze so that appropriate sections could be selected from the images for metallography. The micro-CT technology even allows examining smaller archaeological objects to get an overview. The resolution of the micro-CT is a function of the object size and lies between 5 and 10 μm. The following metallographic examinations are intended to characterize the microstructure. Apart from these examinations, SEM analyses may also be performed on the sections. Different bronze pieces from cremation and inhumation burials were examined. Micro-CT provides a well recognizable contrast between corrosion products and the metallic bronze. If several similar objects exist, micro-CT examinations allow a decision to be made on which parts are suitable for metallographic analyses and which are not.

Microstructural Investigation of Some Bronze Artifacts Discovered in a Dacian Site Using Non-Destructive Methods

Dacian civilization flourished on the actual territory of Romania during the Late Iron Age and had its peak from the first century BC to the first century AD. They had intensive relations with Hellenistic and Roman civilizations. Therefore, it is difficult to evaluate the origin of some widely spread artifacts discovered in the Dacian archeological sites. The present research is focused on two bronze artifacts (a bronze coin and a mirror fragment) found in the Alun-Piatra Rosie site and a silver coin found in the Ardeu site. Artifacts were investigated with nondestructive methods such as SEM-EDX for microstructural and elemental characterization, and the crystalline phases were investigated using XRD. Bronze coin proves to be an Istrian issue having an elemental composition of 75.0% Cu, 20.8% Sn, and 4.1% Pb, which corresponds to a structure of Cu grains mixed with Cu5.6Sn grains. The bronze mirror fragment has an elemental composition of 52.3% Cu and 47.7% Sn, which corresponds to a structure containing grains of Cu6Sn5 mixed with grains of Cu41Sn11. It has a smooth surface that was investigated with AFM microscopy, which evidences a Ra roughness of 51 nm for the patina surface and 33.7 nm for the clean metal surface, proving the high quality of the original mirror luster of the artifact. The silver coin was identified as a Radulesti–Hunedoara type meaning that it was produced in local Dacian metallurgic workshops. It has an elemental composition of 63.1% Ag, 25.3% Sn, 7.8% Cu, and small traces of P and Fe, which corresponds to a structure of Ag grains and Ag3Sn grains. Silver coins show that Dacians uses Sn as alloying element in their metallurgic workshops. Istrian bronze coin proves to be typical for Hellenistic or Roman bronze type with Sn content no more than 25% Sn. The bronze mirror fragment has an unusual composition that might be a result of al local metal charge elaboration with several Hellenistic and Roman bronze pieces as raw material and an extra Sn addition during the melting process. This material facilitates the polishing properties of the active surface that has a very low roughness even after 2000 years of ground resting and adherent oxides patina.

Les vernis or sur les bronzes d’ameublement : acteurs, pratiques et marchés à Paris au XIXe siècle

L’imitation de la dorure véritable par le biais d’un vernis transparent et coloré - ne contenant aucune particule d’or - est une pratique fréquente au XIXe siècle sur les bronzes d’ameublement. L’attention portée à ces revêtements découle de deux problématiques inextricablement liées : l’absence d’une étude historique approfondie permettant de déterminer leur possible intérêt patrimonial, les bronzes vernis étant relégués jusqu’à présent au second plan dans l’historiographie des bronzes décoratifs français et, d’autre part, la conservation des vernis qui pourrait être argumentée grâce aux résultats d’une telle analyse. Afin d’apporter des réponses, une recherche interdisciplinaire à partir de sources textuelles et matérielles a été menée. Elle se veut comparative, puisque le vernissage doit se mesurer aux techniques de dorure véritable, elles-mêmes évolutives, que l’on cherche à imiter. Le premier axe retrace l’origine de cette pratique et l’évolution qu’elle subit du point de vue des acteurs impliqués, des matériaux, outils, gestes et procédés employés. Le second axe traite de la place du bronze verni au sein de l’économie française et de la concurrence livrée en la matière avec les pays voisins, notamment l’Angleterre avec un regard particulier sur la complémentarité et la concurrence des techniques électrolytiques émergeant sous la monarchie de Juillet et leur impact possible sur la pratique de vernissage. Enfin, nous abordons la question de la typologie des objets et de la clientèle à laquelle s’adressent les bronzes vernis en clôturant cette étude sous l’angle de l’évolution du goût et son incidence possible sur la manière de réaliser ces épidermes trompe-l'œil.

METALLOGRAPHIC STUDIES OF IRAN'S IRON AGE: CASE STUDY BRONZE PIECES FROM JEYRĀN TEPE, OZBAKI

This study is a report of the results of metallographic study of 5 bronze pieces found in Jeyrān Tepe dating back to the Iron Age II. Jeyrān Tepe is located 250 m southwest of Ozbaki as one of its hills. The obtained metal pieces included bracelets, necklaces and hairpins, which were used for decoration. The objective of this article was to identify the process of bronze production and study the structure and composition of the components of metal pieces, Iron Age in Jeyrān Tepe, based on laboratory studies that have addressed questions in the field of elemental compositions and the method of bronze production in the study area. For this purpose, five bronze pieces were studied using vegetative electron microscope with scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) analysis, metallographic studies at 200 × magnification and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) to identify the chemical composition, metal production technique and type of alloy. The results of XSEM-EDS on the metal background of the samples showed that the constituent elements of these metals are oxygen, copper, tin, silicon, chlorine, sulfur, aluminum, magnesium and carbon. The main reported elements are copper and tin, so metals are made of pure copper and copper-tin alloys. The different amount of tin in bronze pieces of Jeyrān Tepe could be due to uncontrolled extraction and alloying methods.

Ein spätbronzezeitlicher Bronzehort der Kolchis-Kultur aus Kalvata in Westgeorgien

The study of bronze hoards of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages dates back to the 1930s. Currently, 214 bronze hoards are known from the territory of Georgia. The author defined this number of depositions as a result of his work in various museums of Georgia in 2018 and 2019. This work was carried out within the framework of the project of the German Research Foundation (project director Prof. Dr. Svend Hansen, German Archaeological Institute / Berlin), which aims at a detailed study of hoards of the Colchian culture in the Western and Central Caucasus. Within the framework of the project, in the summer of 2018, the author also explored the Kalvata hoard (Sachkhere Municipality, Imereti Region, Georgia) preserved in the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi (GNM, Inventory # 1-38: 1-14). The Kalvata hoard consists of three bronze Colchian axes, 6 bronze hoes, 36 bronze bars, and two small pieces of bronze, belonging to an unidentified item. This hoard was hitherto dated by 10th-8th centuries BC. A detailed study of the hoard, and the search for parallels with the items in it, in particular, the axes, hoes, and bars, revealed that the Kalvata hoard belonged to the middle of the second half of the second millennium, more precisely, the 13th – 12th centuries BC. Accordingly, the date of the Kalvata collection is at least 300 years older than it was believed before. The author is convinced that most (if not all) bronze hoards of the Colchian culture had a religious destination and were votives to various gods. The fact that the hoards were indeed a sacrifice to the gods is corroborated by many facts.

¿Téseras mineras del sureste hispano o nuevos cuadrantes de Carthago Nova?

The aim of this paper is to organize for the first time an uncertain issue, which we definitely assign to the territory of Carthago Nova. The obverse depicts an aspergillum and the reverse a securis. The issue can be dated between the end of the 1st century BC and the beginning of the 1st century AD. In addition, unpublished coin finds confirm the suggested location. On the other hand, the nature of these bronze pieces is discussed. It seems more correct to interpret them as tesserae rather than as Carthago Nova’s quadrantes. The most convincing fact, although not definitive, is the absence of a magistrate in charge of the issue or even of the name of the colony itself, as in the form of an abbreviation – C(olonia) V(rbs) I(ulia) N(ova Carthago)– in the anonymous issue with Minerva and statue on a pedestal (RPC I 151).

Caracterización isotópica y elemental de los metales de Cova des Pas (Ferreries, Menorca). Una necrópolis de transición del Bronce Final al Hierro

Se presenta el estudio de los objetos metálicos hallados en Cova des Pas (900-800 cal AC), una necrópolis situada en el barranco de Trebaluger (Ferreries, Menorca), excavada entre los años 2005 y 2006 por un equipo formado por miembros de la Universitat de les Illes Balears y la Universitat de Barcelona. El conjunto está compuesto por objetos de bronce y pequeñas anillas de estaño, un elemento alóctono en las Islas Baleares. Se describen las piezas metálicas en sus respectivos contextos arqueológicos, atendiendo a los aspectos tecnológicos que aportan información para caracterizar las producciones metalúrgicas de esta cronología en Menorca. A partir de los resultados de las analíticas de composición elemental y de isótopos de plomo, se argumenta la relación de la mayoría de los bronces con depósitos minerales de Menorca. No obstante, confrontando dichos datos con los publicados actualmente, se deduce que dos piezas de bronce muestran concordancia con minerales cupríferos de Cerdeña y tres con minerales de Linares (Jaén).

IKONOGRAFI SEBAGAI LANGKAH KERJA KREATIF CIPTA SASTRA ANAK DARI RELIEF CANDI

Relief as a form of local wisdom comes in one form as a tool to immerse moral values in antiquity. However, the difference is too long to make relief is no longer popular in this increasingly digital era. Therefore, effort is needed to popularize the stories in relief into children's stories so that they are more easily digested, enjoyed, and used as media of character building that has been mandated by the law. The method of reading works of art that is still rarely used to reconstruct relief stories. Relief stories are only confirmed through the search of written documents that are now increasingly rare existence. The theory in question is iconography. Through this theory, the reliefs can be read and then the reading results are combined and become a story. In the preparation of the story, this theory requires several steps of work, namely, factual description and expressional descriptions. This is understood by identifying the basic shape, the arrangement of a particular line and color, or the unique shape of a piece of bronze or a stone, a natural picture such as man, animal, plant, life-aid and identifying relationships among them as an event. Some things that have been connected are connected, then character expression is exposed through poses and or gesturenya. This is called an artistic motif. The second stage is iconography, which is the process of reading the secondary meaning of the textual aspect (visual traits / artistic motives), by looking at the relationship between the visual features of a work of art with themes and concepts based on the interpretation of imagination or images, stories and allegories or symbols). For that, it takes literary studies as supporting in the form of various theories such as anthropology, sociology, socio-culture, or lifestyle, literary works, and philosophy in the context of the work studied. A specific theme or concept is expressed by the objects of art and events in the work. Keyword: iconography, relief, child literature

Microscopic study on some Iron Age bronze objects from Western Iran

A microscopic study on ancient metals was established to identify chemical composition and microstructure of archaeological tin bronze objects. For this purpose, ten small bronze pieces from Baba Jilan Iron Age site, western Iran, were selected and studied by optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM–EDS) methods. The results showed that all objects were made of variable tin containing binary copper-tin alloy. It may be related to the application of an uncontrolled procedure to make bronze alloy. In some samples, lead and arsenic are detected as major elements, but they can be considered rather as impurities from the original ores. Different microstructural features such as elongated Cu–S inclusions as well as Pb globules are visible in the bronze matrix. Based on the metallographic examination, the bronze pieces are shaped by cycles of cold-working and annealing. The microstructure of Baba Jilan bronze objects is similar to other Iron Age bronze artefacts from different regions of Iran. In fact, process of bronze production in the Iron Age of Iran was to produce bronze alloy with different amounts of tin and without any third alloying element, using copper sulphidic or a mixture of copper sulphidic and oxidic ores to smelting copper, and applying working and heat treatment to shape and manufacture thin sheet objects.

First attempt to obtain the bulk composition of ancient silver–copper coins by using XRF and GRT

Archeological silver–copper pieces often show surface enrichments in silver, either intentional or fortuitous. When this happens, non-destructive techniques like PIXE (Proton Induced X-ray Emission) and XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence) are not sufficient to access the whole bulk pieces because their penetration depths are typically of a few tens microns. If the archeological pieces cannot be cut or polished, it is necessary to apply other non-destructive techniques to access the bulk pieces. That way, archeological bronze pieces have been successfully studied combining XRF (or PIXE) with GRT (Gamma-Ray Transmission).In this work, the bulk composition of five silver Roman coins have been indirectly measured by combining XRF and GRT. These results were compared with previous works made by our group using the same coins by direct means of PIXE and XRF, so the accuracy of this indirect method could be tested.

Two new Roman bronzes with Suebian nodus from Brigetio

The depiction of foreign men with their hair tied in a knot is a well known subject in Roman art. This was the distinctive hairstyle of some Germanic tribes. According to Tacitus this nodus was typically worn by free Suebian men by combing their long hair to the front and tying it together.1 These representations are most usually found in the provinces along the border of the Germanic tribes, but some are also known from Rome itself and even from barbarian territories. Two bronze pieces depicting a male head and a bust with the Suebian nodus were recently uncovered during the summer excavations of the Department of Classical and Roman Archaeology of the Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest) in the ancient Roman town of Brigetio (Komárom/Szőny-Vásártér).

The 2014 recipient of the Brady Medal: Professor David J. Siveter

During his time as Chair of The Micropalaeontological Society (2004–7) David Siveter was an innovative leader and, amongst other things, introduced the term President, which of course benefited his successor, and, most importantly, his was the inspiration to propose a senior medal for the TMS, the Brady Medal. The medal was named in honour of the Brady brothers, G.S. Brady and H.B. Brady, who were distinguished early workers with ostracods and foraminifera, respectively. It was David Siveter’s idea that the Brady Medal should not simply be a piece of bronze but also a work of art in its own right, as indeed it is; the background is described in Siveter (2008 a ). It is therefore particularly satisfying that the eighth Brady Medal be awarded to David Siveter in recognition of his fundamental contributions to our understanding of life in the Palaeozoic. It is not possible to write about David Siveter without passing reference to his twin brother Derek as the Siveter twins have had parallel careers in many ways and both are distinguished Palaeozoic palaeontologists, David with bivalved crustaceans and Derek with arthropods. The Siveter twins were born in Wolverhampton, then Staffordshire, in 1946 and early on developed a love of sport and the outdoors, perhaps as a subconscious counterpoint to the heavily industrialized, urban environment of the ‘Black Country’. Sunday outings with their parents to especially Shropshire inspired a love of that rugged landscape and in due course an interest in the Ordovician and Silurian rocks and their abundant fossils. On wet Sundays Mr and Mrs Siveter would drop the boys at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery where the natural history collection, although small, helped to foster an interest in the natural world and, coincidentally, an interest in art as now reflected in the Brady Medal itself. …

The Potter from Lucerne: An Archeological Fantasy

The visitor who discovered Penone’s first bronze sculpture at Lucerne’s Kunstmuseum in 1977 had no photographs to guide him. In the room where he discovered its four elements there was an intruder, which was, this time, blatantly obvious: an antique ceramic presented on a pedestal, under a plexiglass dome. The four bronze pieces that were surrounding it did not receive such consideration. One was placed on the ground, another in a corner of the room, and yet another was hung on the wall like ...

Moderate Monism, Sortal Concepts, and Relative Identity

Coincidence (e.g., of a statue and the piece of bronze which constitutes it) comes in two varieties - permanent and temporary. Moderate monism (about coincidence) is the position that permanent coincidence, but not temporary coincidence, entails identity. Extreme monism (a version of which is stage theory (Sider 2001, Hawley 2001)) is the position that even temporary coincidence entails identity (those who deny that there are merely temporary coincidents are another sort of extreme monist, I shall not be considering this position in this paper).' Pluralists are opponents of monism tout court.2 The intuitively obvious, commonsensical position (= my own position) is moderate monism. It is therefore important to see if it can be sustained.I first outline the moderate monist position and compare and contrast it with other metaphysical positions with which it is often associated. I then indicate the arguments for moderate monism that seem to me most persuasive, drawing on earlier work of my own (Noonan 1993) and Johnston (1992). Next I turn to three criticisms of moderate monism, by Jim Stone (2005a; 2005c), Eric Olson (2006; 2007) and Penelope Mackie (2008 and unpublished). In responding to these criticisms I maintain (a) that sortal concepts satisfy de dicto modal principles that constrain the histories and spatiotemporal surroundings of the things falling under them and that may be thought of as specifying their criteria of identity, (b) that a distinction is required between restricted sortal quantification and unrestricted quantification over the things falling under a sortal concept (between e.g., 'some statue is . . .' and 'something is a statue and is . . .') and (c) that reflecting on the arguments which enforce this distinction provides the best ground for accepting that 'identity is relative' in one sense familiar from the writings of Peter Geach (1980), namely that identity under a sortal concept at a time (expressible in the form 'is the same S as at i') does not entail absolute, Leibnizian identity. I shall suggest that one way (not the only way) of combining these ideas is to defend a variant of stage theory which is a sort of synthesis of some of the ideas of Hawley (2001) and Sider (2001), but does not depart so far from standard perdurantism and which yields a variant on moderate monism which may be thought of as moderately extreme monism (see Noonan 1976).II begin by outlining the moderate monist position. According to the moderate monist if God creates ex nihilo (at ti) a bronze statue and later (at tlO) annihilates it, destroying both the statue and the bronze of which it is composed (so we have a case of permanent coincidence - Scenario I), the statue and the piece of bronze are identical. If, however, God simply radically reshapes the bronze at tlO (so that we have a case of same-origin temporary coincidence, as Mackie [2008] calls it - Scenario II), the statue ceases to exist and the piece of bronze survives, so despite their coincidence up to tlO the statue and the piece of bronze are two things.Since the statue in Scenario I could not have been radically reshaped without being destroyed, but the piece of bronze in Scenario I could, to conform to Leibniz's Law the moderate monist must accept that modal predication is 'Abelardian' (Noonan 1991), so that the reference of, e.g., 'could have been radically reshaped without being destroyed' is different when attached to 'the statue' and 'the piece of bronze'. One way of fleshing this out is to give a Lewisean counterpart-theoretic account of modal predication, according to which 'could have been radically reshaped without being destroyed' stands for the property has a statue counterpart which is radically reshaped and not destroyed when attached to 'the statue', but stands for the property has apiece of bronze counterpart which is radically reshaped but not destroyed when attached to 'the piece of bronze'. However, acceptance of the Abelardian character of modal predication, which is obligatory for the moderate monist (and the stage theorist) - unless, of course, he endorses a comprehensive Quinean scepticism about any grade of modal involvement beyond modality de dicto - does not require acceptance of Lewisean counterpart theory, or a fortiori, of Lewisean modal realism (see Gupta 1980). …

Nd:YAG 레이저를 이용한 금속유물에 코팅된 아크릴수지의 제거 및 표면 특성 연구

Laser cleaning have been found to be a useful cleaning tool to remove contaminants without inducing damage to the substrate and making secondary pollutant. In this study, the effect of Nd:YAG laser cleaning system, emitting at 1064 nm and 532 nm, on acrylic resin applied onto copper coupons and pieces of bronze was investigated. The samples after laser cleaning tests were examined using microscopy, FT-IR, SEM-EDS. As a result, the acrylic resin could be removed from most of the samples at low laser energy density. Laser wavelength 532 nm was more effective than 1064 nm because of using lower laser energy density, which could reduce heat damage to substrates. Although the acrylic resin was easily removed, it revealed melted surfaces and removed bronze patina which must remain. The problems should be solved by future studies using different laser system or laser wavelengths.

Note on a New Type of Samaritan Amulet

Samaritan amulets, inscribed with Samaritan inscriptions, are known in the research since the early 20th century. The common types, from the late Roman and Byzantine periods, are mainly bronze leaf-shaped pendants and octagonal finger-rings inscribed with several biblical phrases. The following paper presents a new type of Samaritan amulet made of a round, thin piece of bronze, inscribed with two biblical phrases only, and pierced.

Moderate Monism: reply to Noonan and Mackie

Moderate Monism (MM) is the position that permanent, but not temporary, coincidence entails identity. Harold Noonan writes: According to the moderate monist if God creates ex nihilo (at t1) a bronze statue and later (at t10) annihilates it, destroying both the statue and the bronze of which it is composed (Scenario I), the statue and the bronze are identical. If, however, God simply radically reshapes the bronze at t10 (Scenario II) the statue ceases to exist and the piece of bronze survives, so despite their coincidence up to t10 the statue and the piece of bronze are two things. (Noonan 2008: 89) Moderate Monism has a striking limitation. If both three-dimensionalism (TD) and MM are true, there could be two whole unicorn statues standing before us, molecular duplicates, just one of which is identical to the underlying bronze. That's ontologically crazy, so MM and TD are incompatible (Stone 2005a).

In situ study of the Porticello Bronzes by portable X-ray fluorescence and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

This paper reports the results of a measurement campaign performed at the National Museum of Magna Grecia in Reggio Calabria (Italy). Portable X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrumentation allowed in situ analysis of several bronze pieces belonging to the group of the so-called Porticello Bronzes. The find occurred at sea, off the village of Porticello (Reggio Calabria) in 1969 and consists of a number of fragments, including a bearded head, pertaining to at least two statues. The use of X-Ray Fluorescence and Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy techniques allowed for a classification of the fragments according to their elemental composition. The fragments appear to belong to at least two different statues; although, in general, the compositional classification agrees well with the stylistic analysis of the fragments, significant improvements with respect to previous achievements emerge from the joint results of the two techniques used.

Coincidence and modal predicates

Is it coherent to suppose that a statue and a piece of bronze that coincide throughout their existence are identical, while also holding that a statue and a piece of bronze that coincide for the first part of their existence, and then diverge, are distinct entities? Jim Stone (2005a, 2005c) argues that the attempt to defend this combination of views by an appeal to counterpart theory fails, partly on the grounds that the version of coun terpart theory that is required for the defence of the identity judgement in the 'permanent coincidence' case cannot provide a satisfactory account of the modal difference between the entities in the 'temporary coincidence' case.1 Although Stone's target is counterpart theory, the modal problem that he invokes has wider implications. For it appears to threaten any attempt to defend the view that there is identity in the permanent coincidence case but distinctness in the temporary coincidence case by appeal to the theory that modal predicates are what Harold Noonan (1991, 1993) calls 'Abelardian predicates', where an Abelardian predicate is one whose ref erence (the property or concept that it stands for) may be affected by the subject term to which it is attached. And although the version of counter part theory that Stone attacks one that involves 'inconstancy' in de re modal representation (cf. Lewis 1986) implies that modal predicates are Abelardian, one can hold that modal predicates are Abelardian without adopting a counterpart-theoretic account of de re modality (Noonan 1991: 190). In addition, if (as seems plausible) the view that there is identity in the permanent coincidence case can be defended only by treating modal predicates as Abelardian, then Stone's modal objection represents a chal lenge to any attempt to combine the view that there is identity in the case of permanent coincidence with the view that there is distinctness in the case of temporary coincidence. In this paper, I argue that Stone underestimates the resources that are available to an Abelardian theory of modal predication, including the

The Dating of the Wangchenggang Walled-site in Dengfeng County and Related Issues

In 1977, archaeologists discovered the remains of a small east-west oriented city at the site of Wangchenggang 王 城岗 in Dengfeng 登封 County, Henan 河南 Province, which dated to the late Longshan period. The eastern part of the site was largely washed away by the Wudu 五渡 River, however the remaining western part of the site covered an area of roughly 8000 sq m. Inside the city the archaeologists discovered rammed earth structures which contained sacrificial victims in their foundations, as well as several fragmentary pieces of bronze. Based on inscriptions and the archaeological discoveries of the time, the excavators suggested that this site may be the remains of the “Yangcheng 阳城 ” founded by the Xia sovereign: Yu 禹. In 1996–2000, a division of the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project, “Research on the chronology of Xia Period: the early Xia Period analysis” collected samples from the late Longshan area of the site in order to ascertain its C dates. In 2002–2005, two new archaeological projects were initiated around the site: “The pre-research on the origins of Chinese civilization project” carried out a survey of the Longshan era s i tes surrounding Wangchenggang. The actual project later began archaeological work which focused on the periodization of the site, its structure, and settlement patterns in the surrounding area. During these two projects the ruins of a late Longshan period city was discovered. This city was found to have a surface area of over 300,000 sq m and was surrounded by a large moat. The northern wall of this city measured 350m long and 0.5–1.2m high. The northern moat measured 620m long, 15m wide and roughly 5m deep. The western moat measured 135m long, 15m wide and 1.5–2m deep. From the surrounding geography and cores taken across the site it became clear that the other moats and walls had been destroyed. During the excavation of the site we discovered late Longshan period sacrificial pits, jade cong 琮 tubes, and white ceramics: all of which point to the site’s importance and possible function as a central place in the region. However, several questions such as the nature of the site of Wangchenggang and the relationship between the large and the small cities have been topics of interest in the scholarly world. This article will discuss each of these themes.