The Study On Unearth Bronze Wares In The Three Gorges Area Of Hsia And Shang Dynasties

The Three Gorges area has an unique geographical environment and a self-governed characteristic, and it is an important waterway of Yangtze River. It is found that in the Neolithic Age, the early ventral Pu Fengdu fishing sites, medium Fengdu Yuxi Site, late shed mouth Zhongxian post sites, complete sequence of Neolithic culture has been established. Until the Xia and Shang Dynasties, The Three Gorges area has been discovered many bronze wares, most of them are bronze weapons, and a small amount of sacrificial vessel and appliances for daily use and production. Some bronze smelting equipment such as bronze in the form of stone moulds is also discovered in the Three Gorges area, indicating that the bronze smelting technologies have reached a certain level there. Sanxia areas has adverse geographical conditions, which is worse than the one in the western Chengdu Plain and the eastern Jianghan Plain. Based on the fact that the bronzewares found in Sanxia area are arrowheads and fishhook, we can conclude that these production tools have a high degree of adaptability to the environment. In addition, the production made of stone and bone can generally meet the needs of the Ba people. The reason why the Ba people have to use the limited copper resources for weapons is that the copper resources are very rare. The manufacturing processes of bronze tools is so complex that the smelting degree is much more difficult than the stone and bone tools. Even if we can get the finished bronzes by trade exchange, they also cost much. Comparing with remain of Panlong City and the Sanxingdui Ruins, the bronze of the Shang dynasty also showed some consistency, which we can learn from the sharp and design of a bronze drinking vessel and a wooden drinking vessel. Seeing from the bronze smelting and casting technology, we know it is at an relatively lagging, because the objects, using to create complex emblazonry and model, are made by pottery mould. However, we can find nothing made by pottery mould except some small-size bronzes. Though a few small stone moulds can be discovered, which just used by metal arrowheads or fishhooks and have a high repetition rate. Referring to the usability, the stone moulds are much better than the poterry modules uesd to create bronzes with large volume.Moreover, copper resources in the the Three Gorges region are also inferior to them. Although bronze artifacts discovered in the Three Gorges area manifest that it is directly or indirectly by Shang culture in the Central Plains because in the Xia and Shang culture layers of Sanxia area, we found shells using for trade exchange similar to the animal bone used to practise divination in the Central Plains. Coins made by shells are also been found in the Sanxingdui ruins. So we can say that shells as a common currency that is recognized by many parties and the the spread of culture and technology route already exists. The existence of this cultural exchange line has provided conditions for the spread of bronze technology. At last, the author found that ruins of Xia and Shang Dynasties in Sanxia area suffered serious flood erosion, and frequent flooding washed away many ruins. So we can draw such a conclusion that the small number of the bronzes is affected by the flooding of Yangtze River.