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Technical and economic history of western Han dynasty revealed by bronze mirrors from Zonglvcheng cemetery, Linzi, China

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Abstract

In this study bronze mirrors from the Zonglvcheng cemetery in Linzi city, the unique bronze mirror production centre of the Western Han dynasty (WHD, 202 BCE-8 CE), were subjected to scientific examinations. Compositional and lead isotope ratio analyses on 41 bronze mirrors from different periods of WHD were conducted. For the first time, a mirror made of pure lead and another one made with highly radiogenic lead were identified. The compositional analysis revealed a roughly stable copper-tin-lead ratio of 14:5:1 for mirrors, providing insights into the standardised mirror production. The interpretation of isotope ratios was done by combining characteristic parameters and kernel density estimate methods, compiling a wide range of published data for comparison to mitigate the detrimental effects of the overlap effect. The results indicate that the majority of mirrors were produced within Linzi city, but their lead sources were likely from the Xiaoqinling metallogenic belt controlled by the Han Empire rather than local to Shandong province. This study demonstrates that changes in the alloy compositions and ore sources for bronze mirrors and other objects with time were influenced by state-intervention economic policies, providing a new perspective for the study of technical and economic history during the WHD.

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Acknowledgements

The authors have benefitted greatly from insightful comments from the editor and reviewer(s). The authors would like to thank Xintian Zhang for his assistance in sample collection and all the members who participated in the excavation of Zonglvcheng. We also thank Dr Xingxiang Zhang, Xiansheng Yan and other lab members for their assistance in the experiments on lead isotopes.

Funding

The research was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2023QE207) and Conservation and Research on Metal Objects from Linqiancun cemetery, Qufu, Shandong Province (SK230335).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Joint International Research Laboratory of Environmental and Social Archaeology, Shandong University, Qingdao, 266237, Shandong, China

    Jun Gao & Quanyu Wang

  2. Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Jinan, 250014, Shandong, China

    Wenbin Dong

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

    Xiaotong Wu

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

    Xiang Wang

  5. Metal Stable Isotope Geochemistry Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Anhui, Hefei, 230026, China

    Fang Huang

Authors
  1. Jun Gao
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  2. Wenbin Dong
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  3. Xiaotong Wu
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  4. Xiang Wang
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  5. Fang Huang
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  6. Quanyu Wang
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Contributions

J Gao: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, writing—original draft, visualization, project administration, funding acquisition.W. B. Dong: resources, sample providing, writing—original draft.X. Wu: sample providing, review and editing. X. Wang: data curation, review and editingF. Huang: data quality monitor.Q. Wang: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, resources, data quality monitor, project administration, funding acquisition, writing—review and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Quanyu Wang.

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Gao, J., Dong, W., Wu, X. et al. Technical and economic history of western Han dynasty revealed by bronze mirrors from Zonglvcheng cemetery, Linzi, China. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 16, 73 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-024-01977-8

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