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From diversity to monopoly: major economic policy change in the Western Han Dynasty revealed by lead isotopic analysis

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Abstract

The relationship between the flow of metal and the state political and economic structures of the Qin and Han empires has thus far received inadequate scientific investigation. In this study, lead isotopic analysis was conducted on 54 bronzes unearthed from multiple sites of Eastern China dated to WHD (Western Han Dynasty: 202 BC-AD 23), including containers, chariot and horse gears, weapons, mirrors, coin moulds, coins, and weighing and measuring instruments. The provenance of lead-bearing materials is a vital question. The current results indicate no noticeable regional variations, all falling into the traditionally known category of common lead. However, the variation in lead isotope becomes increasingly narrow from the early to late WHD. The lead sources during the early WHD were much complicated, but those used in the middle to late WHD were more uniform and broadly consistent with the minerals used in WHD mirrors from Chang’an and Japan, most likely from the western Henan area. To stabilize the economy and fight against the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu decided to nationalize the trade of salt and iron. Consequently, local mining and casting of bronzes were also banned, forcing bronze material from different regions to be concentrated in a few metropolitan centres. The shift in the WHD’s economic strategy from free operation to state monopoly has been crystalized in the lead isotopes.

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Data availability

The datasets generated or analysed during this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

The research was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (22BKG039).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. USTC Archaeometry Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Anhui, 230026, Hefei, China

    Dongyi Yang, Xiaotong Wu & Xingxiang Zhang

  2. School of History, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China

    Xiaotong Wu

  3. The Department of Asia, British Museum, London, WC1B 3DG, UK

    Ruiliang Liu

  4. School of History and Culture, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China

    Qing Wang

  5. Shandong University Museum, Jinan, 250100, China

    Benheng Shi

  6. Pingdu Museum, Qingdao, 266700, China

    Tao Qu

  7. Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, 210016, China

    Jianhua Tian

  8. Minyue Wangcheng Museum, Wuyishan, 354300, China

    Fenglin Hua

Authors
  1. Dongyi Yang
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  2. Xiaotong Wu
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  3. Ruiliang Liu
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  4. Qing Wang
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  9. Xingxiang Zhang
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Contributions

D. Y. Yang: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, writing—original draft, visualization.

X. T. Wu: methodology, formal analysis, writing—original draft, data curation, project administration.

R. L. Liu: writing—review and editing.

Q. Wang: resources, writing—review and editing.

B. H. Shi: resources, writing—review and editing.

T. Qu: resources, writing—review and editing.

J.H. Tian: resources, writing—review and editing.

F. L. Hua: resources, writing—review and editing.

X. X. Zhang: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, project administration, funding acquisition, writing—review and editing.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xiaotong Wu or Xingxiang Zhang.

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Yang, D., Wu, X., Liu, R. et al. From diversity to monopoly: major economic policy change in the Western Han Dynasty revealed by lead isotopic analysis. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 15, 37 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01729-0

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