Investigation And Study On Early Mining And Smelting Sites In The Middle And Lower Reaches Of The Yangtze River

From 2013 to 2015, with the help of local institutes, the State Administration for Cultural Heritage Key Scientific Research Base of Archaeometallurgy systematically conducted an archaeological survey on early mining and smelting ruins in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The mining and smelting ruins were primarily dated from the Western Zhou Dynasty and some of them might be dated to the Xia-Shang Dynasty or the Spring and Autumn Period. Artifacts such as sand-tempered reddish-brown potteries and hard potteries with impressed patterns were commonly found in the region, but their culture connotation still shows local characteristic. The survey also shows that the metallurgy ruins were mainly located on the hillocks in the south-eastern Hubei and north-western Jiangxi while they were mainly on the mounds in the south-western and southern Anhui. In general, the place under a mountain and near the right side of the navigable waters were preferred. The mud walls or the moats of ruins were possible for the protection of mining and smelting production. Furthermore, we grouped the mining and smelting ruins from the perspective of production organization.This dissertation preliminarily summarizes the previous research achievements in the study of early bronze metallurgy ruins around the world. In order to reveal the bronze metallurgy techniques employed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, a pratical approach has been established to identify the techniques of early bronze metallurgy mainly through the analyses of the slag. The study finds that tin is the main alloying element in south-eastern Hubei, north-western Jiangxi and south-western Anhui. Meanwhile, two different systems which respectively used tin and arsenic as main alloying element exist in the south of Anhui. In addition, the production of antimony bronze were found in south-eastern Hubei and south of Anhui.It has important guiding significance to understand the north of Jiangxi as tin material origin of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze river. The closer to the north of Jiangxi, more likely to find the tin bronze metallurgy in the ruin. Besides, both Hubei and Anhui have no tin mine in geological literature. The copper polymetallic ore and arsenicl ore should be from the local sources. The tin material is most likely to be from the north of Jiangxi. The Yangtze River system plays an important role of linking regions with different resources.Unlike the central plains in the Shang and Zhou period, the bronze metallurgy and bronze casting activities in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River were not separated, and not strictly limited in the high level settlement. The small and medium-sized settlements could even cast bronze ritual vessels. Both of the production and use of bronze maintained local characteristics, and did not play the same role as in the central plain. The culture background of the bronze industrial pattern should be different from the central plain system.The survey has significance for the study on the early civilization and social complexity in the Yangtze River Valley.