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Metallurgical and Chemical Characterization of Bronze Remains Found at the Houhe Site in Shanxi Province, China

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Abstract

This study attempts to determine the metallurgical and chemical characteristics of Chinese bronze artifacts from the early Iron Age by taking the bronze artifacts from the Houhe site as an example. The bronze artifacts included vessels, buckles, mirrors, and bells. Elemental compositions of 10 Chinese bronze artifacts from the Houhe site were determined by an x-ray fluorescence system. Microstructures were observed by a polarizing microscope. Most of the artifacts were cast and lacked external evidence of secondary processing. The copper content of the vessels is higher than the other samples, and the copper content of buckles is the lowest. High tin content is a distinctive characteristic of the mirrors. Through comparisons, bells show a decline in the content of copper from the Western Zhou dynasty to the early Han dynasty, and the content of lead increased over time. Combined with historical studies, the findings show that there may have been industrial standards for bronze production during the Han dynasty.

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Acknowledgments

This research is supported by the National Scholarship Fund of China (CSC No. 201404910198), the National Social Science Fund of China (No. 13BKG004), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41471167). We are grateful to anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly improved the quality of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100044, China

    D. Mu, G. D. Song & W. G. Luo

  2. Department of Scientific History and Archaeometry, School of Humanities, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    D. Mu, G. D. Song & W. G. Luo

  3. Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Taiyuan, 030001, Shanxi, China

    P. H. Nan & J. Y. Wang

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  1. D. Mu
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  2. P. H. Nan
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  3. J. Y. Wang
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  4. G. D. Song
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  5. W. G. Luo
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Correspondence to W. G. Luo.

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Mu, D., Nan, P.H., Wang, J.Y. et al. Metallurgical and Chemical Characterization of Bronze Remains Found at the Houhe Site in Shanxi Province, China. JOM 67, 1659–1666 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-015-1463-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-015-1463-z

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