Investigation
of early metallurgy in southeast China and northern Vietnam during the period
1200–600 BCE.
The
emergence of metallurgy stands as a notable signpost of technological and
cultural change in the ancient world. By
the third millennium BCE, copper and bronze metallurgy had appeared in northern
and northwest China, serving as the foundation for the dramatic development of
metallurgy associated with the production of elaborate bronze vessels in northern China by 1500 BCE. Archaeologists have
also paid attention to the timing and nature of early metallurgy in other parts
of Asia, noting how such regional developments compare to those in northern
China.
Dr. Francis Allard has initiated a project that focuses on the earliest
stages of metallurgy in southeast China and northern Vietnam, regions which
appear to have shared a number of developmental features as regard to early
metallurgy. Thus, the earliest metal artifacts—mostly small and simple
objects such as axes, knives, awls, bells, and fishhooks—appear at around 1200
BCE in all of these areas, most likely the result of the rapid spread of
metallurgical knowledge from a single area (probably central China).
The
project focuses on the investigation of early metallurgy in southeast China and
northern Vietnam during the period 1200–600 BCE. The initial objectives of
the project are as follows:
Assemble all of the published and
unpublished data relevant to the topic. This consists mostly of information on bronze
objects, stone molds, ceramic crucibles, and slag identified by archaeologists
during the course of excavations.-
Analyze a sample of artifacts as a way to clarify
the issue of technological and stylistic variability within and between
regions. For example, one question of particular interest is the degree to
which bronzes varied in their compositional make-up (i.e. relative proportion
of copper, tin, lead, and arsenic). Such knowledge permits us to determine the extent
and impact of shared knowledge on local practice at the earliest stages of
technological development, and to test whether variability increases or decreases
over time as region-wide technical improvements are made.
-
Place the production of early bronze objects
in their broader social and political contexts. Thus, the level of social
complexity at the sites from which the metal objects were recovered (determined,
for example, though the analysis of burials) helps clarify whether such early
metallurgy was dependent on craft specialists attached to leaders who
controlled the production of metal artifacts.
Future
objectives beyond those listed above include the identification of sources of
ores and more detailed studies of casting and smelting processes.