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Revisiting lead isotope data in Shang and Western Zhou bronzes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2017

Zhengyao Jin ,
Ruiliang Liu ,
Jessica Rawson  and
A. Mark Pollard
Zhengyao Jin
Affiliation:
USTC Archaeometry Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, 96 Jinzhai Road, Hefei 230026, China
Ruiliang Liu*
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 36 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK
Jessica Rawson
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 36 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK
A. Mark Pollard
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 36 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Lead is a major component of Chinese ritual bronze vessels. Defining its sources and usage is thus highly significant to understanding the metal industries of the Chinese Bronze Age. A new, simplified method has been developed for examining data, thereby providing insight into diachronic change in the origins of lead sources used in artefacts. Application of this method to the existing corpus of lead isotope data from the Erlitou (c. 1600 BC) to the Western Zhou (c. 1045–771 BC) periods reveals changes in the isotope signal over this time frame. These changes clearly reflect shifts in the sourcing of ores and their use in metropolitan foundries. Further data are required to understand these complex developments.

Keywords

ChinaBronze Agelead isotopessupply network
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 91 , Issue 360 , December 2017 , pp. 1574 - 1587
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2017 

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