Did China Import Metals from Africa in the Bronze Age?

Archaeometry - Tập 60 Số 1 - Trang 105-117 - 2018
Siran Liu1, K. L. Chen1, Thilo Rehren2, Jianjun Mei3, Jianli Chen4, Y. Liu5, David Killick6
1Institute of Cultural Heritage and History of Science & Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing 30 Xueyuan Road Beijing 100083 China
2STARC, The Cyprus Institute, 2121 Nicosia, Cyprus; and Institute of Archaeology University College London 31–34 Gordon Square London WC1H 0PY UK
3Needham Research Institute, 8 Sylvester Road, Cambridge, CB3 9AF UK
4School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian, Beijing, 100871 China
5Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China
6School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, 1009 S. Campus Drive, Tucson, AZ, 85721-0030 USA

Tóm tắt

The origins of the copper, tin and lead for China's rich Bronze Age cultures are a major topic in archaeological research, with significant contributions being made by archaeological fieldwork, archaeometallurgical investigations and geochemical considerations. Here, we investigate a recent claim that the greater part of the Shang‐period metalwork was made using metals from Africa, imported together with the necessary know‐how to produce tin bronze. A brief review of the current status of lead isotopic study on Shang‐period bronze artefacts is provided first, clarifying a few key issues involved in this discussion. It is then shown that there is no archaeological or isotopic basis for bulk metal transfer between Africa and China during the Shang period, and that the copper and lead in Shang bronze with a strongly radiogenic signature is not likely to be from Africa. We call for collaborative interdisciplinary research to address the vexing question of the Shang period's metal sources, focusing on smelting sites in geologically defined potential source regions and casting workshops identified at a number of Shang settlements.

Từ khóa


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