Metallurgy at the Crossroads: New Analyses of Copper‐based Objects at Tianshanbeilu, Eastern Xinjiang, China
Tianshanbeilu is the largest Bronze Age site in eastern Xinjiang, China. Stretching across the entire second millennium BC, it performed a prominent role in connecting the Hexi corridor, Central China and the steppe. A further insight into the metallurgical tradition and the metal supply network is...
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| Zusammenfassung: | Tianshanbeilu is the largest Bronze Age site in eastern Xinjiang, China. Stretching across the entire second millennium BC, it performed a prominent role in connecting the Hexi corridor, Central China and the steppe. A further insight into the metallurgical tradition and the metal supply network is of vital importance to improve our understanding of its multi‐connected nature. This paper offers a new set of chemical and isotopic data on the copper‐based objects at Tianshanbeilu, including alloying elements, trace elements (impurities) and lead isotopes. Combining the concentrations of arsenic and antimony reveals that arsenic was introduced to copper partially due to the use of specific minerals tethrahedrite‐tennantite. Lead isotopes demonstrate that multiple sources of copper were employed at Tianshanbeilu and a majority of them are characterized by common lead, which appears rather different from those of the Central Plains and the Hexi corridor, but highly consistent with local ores. Surprisingly, one object at Tianshanbeilu contains the well‐known highly radiogenic lead. This object undoubtedly marks the westernmost boundary of the distribution of the highly radiogenic lead. We also anticipate that more lead isotopic analyses in NW China will further contribute to the study of the highly radiogenic lead in Central China. |
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| Bibliographie: | phone: +44 01865 285219 About the corresponding author About the first author liucheng@nwu.edu.cn LIU Ruiliang, male, born in 1988 in Ji'nan City, Shandong Province; Ph.D, graduated from the University of Oxford; Junior Research Fellow in Wolfson College and postdoctoral researcher in the School of Archaeology, University of Oxford. He is interested in archaeometallurgy, radiocarbon dating and east‐east communication in antiquity. Email LIU Cheng, male, born in 1964 in Shanghai; Master; graduated from Northwest University, China; associated professor of the School of Cultural Heritage, Northwest University, China. He is now interested archaeological and conservation science. Email ruiliang.Liu@arch.ox.ac.uk phone: +86 13772137915. ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14 |
| ISSN: | 1000-9515 1755-6724 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/1755-6724.14531 |