6 research outputs found

    Copper and bloomery iron smelting in Central China: Technological traditions in the Daye County (Hubei)

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    This project investigates the copper and iron producing industries of Daye County, a substantial mining and smelting area in the Hubei Province (China) with activities well documented from the early 1st millennium BC. In particular, this study aims to characterise the engineering parameters of the primary smelting of copper and bloomery iron at eight metal production sites located in the proximity of the prominent ancient mine of Tonglushan, in an area of ~1300 km2 . The thesis is focused on the materials science analyses of surface collected technicalmaterial such as slags, furnace remains, and ores of eight archaeological sites located in close proximity of each other in the Daye County. The methods include optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), and wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF), to characterise their microstructure, mineralogy and chemical composition. The copper-smelting technologies reconstructed here – broadly framed in the Western Zhou period by ceramic typology – seemingly correspond to modest size workshops, thus different from the large scale production centres involving numerous workers, resources and infrastructures typically described in the literature. Moreover, and exceptionally for most of Eurasia, extensive evidence of large-scale production of bloomery iron at the core of the Chinese Empire is documented, with radiocarbon dates placing the activity in the 18th century AD, thus in the Qing Dynasty and over 2000 years after the production of copper. This finding challenges traditional generalisations whereby bloomery iron smelting is widely deemed to be a rarity in China, due to the early development of the blast furnaces; when identified, bloomeries are usually presented as isolated examples of limited scale, mostly in marginal areas to the Central Plains. The reconstruction of the various smelting processes in a relatively small region illustrates different technological adaptations to natural resources and socio- technological contexts, which are discussed using conceptual frameworks of technological choices and regionalism

    Bullion production in imperial China and its significance for sulphide ore smelting world-wide

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    Gold and silver production was of major importance for almost all ancient societies but has been rarely studied archaeologically. Here we present a reconstruction of a previously undocumented technology used to recover gold, silver and lead at the site of Baojia in Jiangxi province, China dated between the 7th and 13th centuries AD. Smelting a mixture of sulphidic and gossan ores in a relatively low temperature furnace under mildly reducing conditions, the process involved the use of metallic iron to reduce lead sulphide to lead metal, which acted as the collector of the precious metals. An experimental reconstruction provides essential information, demonstrating both the significant influence of sulphur on the silicate slag system, and that iron reduction smelting of lead can be carried out at a relatively low temperature. These new findings are relevant for further studies of lead and precious metal smelting slags world-wide. The technological choices of ancient smelters at this site are then discussed in their specific geographical and social-economic settings

    Data for: Bloomery iron smelting in the Daye County (Hubei): technological traditions in Qing China

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    Full results (normalised) of WD-XRF data for bloomery slag samples, and precision and accuracy values of the machines monitored using certified reference materials (CRMs

    Data for: Bloomery iron smelting in the Daye County (Hubei): technological traditions in Qing China

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    Full results (normalised) of WD-XRF data for bloomery slag samples, and precision and accuracy values of the machines monitored using certified reference materials (CRMs)THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV
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