Comment on ‘Did China Import Metals from Africa in the Bronze Age?’

Lead isotope compositions provide a direct means of assessing provenance. The lead contents in bronzes cannot be used to argue against lead isotopes. Any claim for the origin of the source material for the origin of Yin‐Shang bronzes must satisfy the measured lead isotope compositions. Thus far, only southern African sources are found to meet this criteria.     

The mineral wealth of ancient Arabia and its use I: Copper mining and smelting at Feinan and Timna – comparison and evaluation of techniques, production, and strategies

Near Eastern fieldwork in mining archaeology and archaeometallurgy began at Timna (Israel) in the 1960s and 1970s and continued in Feinan (Jordan) in the 1980s and 1990s. For the first time, Bronze Age copper mines were excavated and cleared and importance was given to the slag recovered. At both sites copper was produced for over 5000 years, from the Chalcolithic to the Mamluk periods. Although the broad outlines of technical development can be traced, much remains to be learned in future studies.     

Khao Sam Kaeo – an archaeometallurgical crossroads for trans-asiatic technological traditions

Recent archaeological investigations at Khao Sam Kaeo, on the Upper Thai-Malay Peninsula, have furnished evidence for a mid/late 1st millennium BCE cultural exchange network stretching from the Indian subcontinent to Taiwan. Typological, compositional and technological study of Khao Sam Kaeo's copper-base artefacts has identified three distinct copper-alloy metallurgical traditions, with reasonable analogies in South Asian, Vietnamese, and Western Han material culture. Furthermore, analyses of technical ceramic and slag suggest that Khao Sam Kaeo metalworkers may have been using a cassiterite cementation process to produce high-tin bronze ingots for export or onsite casting/forging. Not only would this industry constitute the earliest evidence for the exploitation of Peninsula tin resources, but we also offer a speculative argument for the source of Khao Sam Kaeo's copper-base production technology.     

AMT复合剂与CuCl的反应研究

为研究AMT复合剂在去除青铜文物粉状锈和氯离子的作用,用AMT复合剂与CuCl进行化学反应,并将反应后的絮状物进行EDS、IR和XRD分析,原始反应液及清洗絮状物最后一次所得洗液中Cl-采用离子色谱法(IC)分析;原始反应液中的阳离子采用电感耦合等离子光谱直读仪(ICP)分析。分析结果表明:AMT复合剂与CuCl反应生成的絮状物与清洗青铜文物过程中析出的絮状物形貌相同,说明AMT复合剂可能渗入到青铜文物锈层并与锈层内的CuCl充分反应,提取出Cl-。     

天然氧化铜矿与铜制品腐蚀产物区别的探讨

在一些新石器时代的遗址中经常会出现一些铜渣、小块孔雀石等与炼铜有关的遗物。为探究这些孔雀石到底是天然的氧化铜矿还是铜制品的腐蚀产物,本工作对天然氧化铜矿和青铜器腐蚀产物进行岩相分析和元素成分分析。结果表明,天然氧化铜矿大都具有一些特殊的结构构造,而在铜制品的腐蚀产物中却很难发现这些结构构造;同时,二者在元素成分上也有显著不同,Bi、Sb、As、Fe、Mo、Co、Mn等微量元素可以作为区分天然氧化铜矿和青铜器腐蚀产物的一个判别标志。结合岩相分析和成分分析,可以确定一个遗址出土的孔雀石或蓝铜矿是天然氧化铜矿还是铜制品的腐蚀产物;同时,可进一步判断是红铜的腐蚀产物还是青铜的。这一结论对探讨铜冶金的起源有重要意义。