Views of the academic community on the origin of metallurgical technology in China in the past two y

Jin Zhengyao: The question of "why Henan" and the new direction of China's scientific and technological archaeologyHistorical Research, No. 5, 2020, Jin Zhengyao: The Question of "Why Henan" and the New Direction of China's Science and Technology Archaeology - "Erlitou Archaeology and Early Chinese Civilization" Written Discussion (4):

Bai Yunxiang divided the discovery area of early Chinese bronze artifacts into four regions: Northwest, North, Haidai and Central Plains, among which the metal relics in the Central Plains can be traced back to the brass products of the Jiangzhai site in the Yangshao period, and the brass products were also found in the Longshan culture in the Haidai area. The early brass products should come from zinc-malachite and a zinc-containing copper mineral with special shape and bright color, which belongs to the early "copper mineral test period" in the Central Plains, and cannot be used as evidence of the "copper-zinc (alloy) test period".

In the 80s of the 20th century, metallurgical researchers conducted simulation experiments and smelted with a mixture of malachite and siderite to finally obtain brass. Later simulation experiments added the mixture of red copper and siderite, and obtained results similar to the composition of ginger brass sheets. These simulations are all elaborate, but there are still questions about whether Yangshao brass is smelted in this way. The technical route of simulation experiments requires the support of a complex knowledge system, including the knowledge and ability to distinguish copper ore, zinc ore and red copper (whether natural copper or copper obtained from smelting), and master the technical means similar to the "solid-state reduction process". If it is said that as early as the Yangshao period, it knew how to use red copper and add zinc minerals to smelt brass alloys, then it is difficult to understand that in the course of one or two thousand years, red copper products have never been found. In addition, the time and space gap between the Yangshao culture in Shaanxi Province and the Longshan culture in Shandong Province is so large, this complex knowledge and technology system has almost no possibility of inheritance, and it is even more impossible to say that it is the result of being reinvented hundreds of years apart

The mature lead-bronze casting technology developed in the later period of Erlitou culture means that the experimental period of copper alloy has entered a new stage, which is directly related to the common copper-lead symbiotic ore in western Henan. In addition, although the experimental period of tin bronze alloy technology also began in the Erlitou culture, it may not be completely stable until the second phase of Yinxu, much later than the lead bronze alloy technology. The complex types of copper materials in the early Erlitou culture are due to the variety of copper minerals found at that time. The symbiosis of copper-tin-lead, copper-lead, and copper-tin minerals in western Henan provides a resource guarantee for the early experimental period of copper minerals in Erlitou culture, and also directly leads to the complexity of product materials. ......

Wu Xiaotong, Tan Jin Zhuo, Ma Jiangbo: Recent Progress and Trend of Metallurgical Archaeology Research, Nonferrous Metals (Smelting Part), No. 5, 2020:

The sporadic discovery of Neolithic bronze tools and related relics in the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins cannot support the theory of the independent origin of metallurgy, and in recent years, more scholars tend to associate the origin of Chinese metallurgy with the eastward spread of metallurgical technology in the Eurasian steppe.

Xu Hong: East Asian Bronze Tide, Joint Books, 2021:

P25: In the course of these two millennia (4700-2100 B.C.), several cases of red copper or primitive copper alloys were short-lived, and the bronze knife as an isolated case is still controversial. ......They cannot be considered a precursor to bronze casting.

p42: There should have been no so-called "copper-and-stone" era in which the use of red bronze was the main characteristic feature on the East Asian continent.

P43: As many scholars have analyzed and pointed out, the appearance of copper remains in the East Asian continent should be closely related to the acceptance of foreign cultural influences.

At the beginning of the lecture, Professor Mei first introduced the new trends in the current academic research on the origin of early Chinese bronze and metallurgy, mainly introducing the research results of four scholars: Lin Meicun, Su Rongrong, Jin Zhengyao and Guo Jingyun.

Lin Meicun's research examines the relationship between the Seyma-Turbino culture and the prehistoric Silk Road as a whole, and discusses the connection between early Chinese metallurgy, bronze artifacts, and the bronze artifacts of the Saima-Turbino culture.

Su Rongrong's recent research has compared the bronze knife unearthed in Shiyuan with the stone fan of the ring-headed knife, and believes that the two have a local tradition and are similar to the type of the Shang Dynasty in the Central PlainsCombined with the Taosi culture and Erlitou cultural data, the Central Plains copper smelting technology and tradition, the identification of copper casting sites and the casting of stone models were discussed. He believes that there are still many unexplained problems in the West, and there is no evidence that there was a copper casting industry in Shiyuan, and it is too early to say that it had an impact on early Chinese copper production.

On the basis of combing the history of the discovery and research of early Chinese bronzes, Jin Zhengyao proposed that there was no "red copper period" in China, and there was no universally applicable "red copper-arsenic-tin bronze" model in the world. He emphasized the importance of metal mineral resources in the early metallurgical industry, and accordingly proposed a new model of "copper mineral test period-copper alloy test period-bronze industry".

Guo Jingyun believes that there are many questions about the introduction of Chinese bronze technology in the west, such as unclear introduction routes, different technological development contexts, different types and manufacturing methods of bronze objects, etc., and systematically combs the relics and relics found in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River that may be related to the casting of bronze artifacts, and puts forward a new view of the origin of Chinese bronze technology in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

Professor Mei believes that the new developments of the above research can be summarized as follows: first, the Western theory and the independent origin theory have their own opinions, and it is difficult to distinguish between themSecond, the criticism of the West focuses on intermediate links such as transmission routes, but also on the fundamental understanding of the technical and social basis on which metallurgical technology took placeThird, the theory of independent origin emphasizes the resource and technological base;Fourth, the theory of the local origin of smelting technology in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River emphasizes the innate conditions for the development of ore resources and culture, while the basis of archaeology itself needs to be further sorted out.

Lin Shirui: The use of metals in the early Bronze Age in the Northwest Territories – from a technical and resource perspective**, Wenbo, Issue 5, 2021:

In the early period, Xinjiang was mainly influenced by the relatively mature metallurgical industry in Western Siberia, and gradually developed from red copper to tin bronze, and arsenic copper products and technologies spread westward from the Hexi Corridor into eastern Xinjiang around 1700-1600 BC. The Xichengyi site in the middle of the Hexi Corridor is the earliest arsenic and copper production and use center found in Northwest China.

Zhang Changping: From the triangular pyramidal vessel, we can see the formation of the characteristics of China's Bronze Age block model casting technologyArchaeology, No. 3, 2022.

……The origin of bronze smelting and casting technology in China has always been a hot topic of discussion among Chinese and foreign scholars [1]. In the early years, because of the large number of early copper products found in China and their wide distribution, most scholars preferred that Chinese bronzes and their technology were of independent origin [2]. Since the beginning of the 21st century, new especiallyThe archaeological progress in Xinjiang and the Ganqing region has led more and more scholars to believe that copper smelting was introduced to the Central Plains from West Asia through the Eurasian steppe region and from the Ganqing region[3]。However, compared with the progress of understanding of smelting technology [4], the origin of Chinese bronze casting technology is still unclear. The characteristics of China's unique block model casting technology formed during the Erlitou culture period [5] are obviously different from the forging and lost-wax casting techniques of early bronzes in West Asia. If it is said that the Chinese bronze casting technology came from the influence of foreign cultures, why did it not inherit the foreign tradition, but seemed to have suddenly formed a new technical system [6]. Such a question has been unavoidable from the perspective of Chinese copper smelting until today [7].

Copper smelting includes different technical categories such as mining, smelting, and tool making, each of which not only has complex resource allocation and labor organization, but also includes different and difficult technical links. It is difficult for such a technical system to be formed spontaneously. It is not difficult to notice that around 2000 B.C., copper smelting in Ganqing area was earlier and more developed than that of the Central Plains, both in terms of production and products. Even in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, there are more discoveries of Tao Temple and Shiyuan sites between Shaanxi and Jin Dynasty in the north than in northern Henan in the same period. Such a situation allows scholars to conclude that the source of the smelting and casting technology of the Erlitou culture comes from the northwest, which should be understandable.

4300 3800 years ago, archaeologically it is the end of the Neolithic Age, also known as the Longshan Age, which is the third stage of the Ancient Kingdom Age. ......Wheat crops and their cultivation techniques originated from Central Asia, cattle, sheep, goats and other domestic animals, and bronze smelting technology were introduced to China here, first reaching the northwest region and then to the Central Plains, and these new production factors injected new impetus into the process of social complexity.

The second part focuses on the origin and development and spread of bronze culture in China. Professor Miyamoto pointed out that there are two main theories in the academic community about the emergence of early Chinese bronze culture: one is the Chinese native theory;The second is the theory of Western importation.

In the seventies and eighties of the last century, China's local theory was sought after by the academic community, among which Tang Lan and other scholars were the representatives;After the 90s, the Western theory supported by scholars such as An Zhimin was gradually accepted by the academic community.

Since then, scholars such as Mei Jianjun and Li Shuicheng have also supported this viewTo this day, most scholars believe that Chinese bronzes were imported from the West.

Miyamoto also has a positive opinion on the introduction of Western theories. He pointed out that the origin of Chinese bronzes should be from Turkey and the Black Sea coast, through Eurasia to northern China, and then to the interior of the Central Plains. There are two routes of propagation.

The first is the northerly route, which starts from Turkey and the Black Sea coast, and extends from the forest belt of the northern Eurasian steppe through the central Mongolian plateau to the south-central part of Inner Mongolia through the Seyma-Turbino culture, which is the bronze culture of the northThe other route is southerly, but it all starts from the same place of origin and enters northwest China through the Andronovo cultural region in the Eurasian steppe. The bronze culture of northern and northwest China was gradually introduced to the Central Plains, and gradually expanded to the south, expanding its scope, and even spread to Southeast Asia such as Vietnam, and also influenced the Sichuan-Tibet bronze culture.

Kazuo Miyamoto (Japanese: kazuo miyamoto), born in April 1958, is a famous Japanese archaeologist, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a recipient of the Hamada Seiryo Prize, the highest honor in Japanese archaeology. He is currently a professor at the Graduate School of Humanities at Kyushu University, the director of the Kyushu Museum, the director of the Buried Cultural Property Research Office at Kyushu University, and a professor at the Human Resource Development Program of the Ministry of Education of Sichuan University. He has presided over archaeological excavation and research projects in Japan, Mongolia, Sichuan and other places around the world. Editor's note:In short, there is a high probability that the academic community believes that the bronze technology has elements of spreading from the West, and it is mainly based on local technology, and the specific details are inconclusive.

Analyze the reasons why "China's earliest bronze technology came from the West" is not easy to be accepted by ordinary people, and the answer of local origin is easy to praise:

1.It's not a "technology" to talk about.

Bronze production is an extremely complex, bifurcated and highly diachronic and regionally varying technological system. No one is saying that all bronze technology in China came from the West, as mentioned above"Origin".and a later form of Bronze technology. After countless iterations and upgrades, the Shang and Zhou bronzes we are familiar with are too different from the original source of bronze technology.

One of the most important indigenized creations was the block casting technique (a vessel made by pouring a bronze solution into a mould with a combination of a clay outer fan and an inner core, see figure below), which has diverged from all other early metallurgical traditions, and the shapes, combinations, and ornamentation of Shang and Zhou bronzes are very different from those of other bronze cultures in the world, and the source lies here.

Many people may think that admitting "Western" is denying the original contribution of Shang and Zhou bronzes, but the connection between the two is not as great as most people think.

Network diagram

It is of course wrong that there has long been an extreme trend of cultural diffusion that attributed the world's inventions to ancient Egypt or the Near East, and that societies elsewhere seemed to be uncreative, and has long been corrected by archaeological evidence.

It is not necessary for some people to hate the spread of culture in order to defend cultural identity or purity. Because transmission is not the same as being unchanged from the place of origin to the place of acceptance, now when we look at the process of cultural transmission, it is better to compare it to a virus than to a water wave, which will mutate so much that it will mutate to the point that the mother does not know it while replicating.