Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T03:40:01.287Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Some Problems Concerning China's Early Copper and Bronze Artifacts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2015

Julia K. Murray  and
An Zhimin
Julia K. Murray
Affiliation:
Oriental Department, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University
An Zhimin
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

(Translator's Note: This article originally appeared in Kaogu Xuebao 1981.3: 269-284, and is translated with the author's permission.)

I. The appearance of metal is a very important event in human history, marking the start of an age. From the patriarchal clan communes of the late Neolithic period to the slave society of the Bronze Age, there was a great change in the relationship between social development and production. As a result, the origin and development of metal-working is one of the important issues in archaeological research (p. 269).

Early in the Shang dynasty, China had already advanced into slave society, and its brilliant bronze culture is an outstanding phenomenon in the history of the ancient world. Shang civilization evolved from Longshan foundations, and there is ample archaeological proof of the close relationship between the two. But from what origins did Shang bronze arise? Before the Shang, was there an aeneolithic period in which copper was used? These questions have not yet been satisfactorily answered. Since 1949 the new discoveries of copper objects and of bronze objects belonging to an early period have contributed important clues to the solution of these problems.

Type
TRANSLATIONS
Information
Early China , Volume 8 , 1982 , pp. 53 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Study of Early China 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

1.Lan, Tang, article in Dagongbao zai Gang fukan sanshi zhounian jinian lunwen ji (1978), pp. 23–58.Google Scholar
2.Kaogu 1979.1:33–36.Google Scholar
3.Lan, Tang, article in Gugong bowuyuan yuankan 1979.1:4–10.Google Scholar
4.Zhimin, An, article in Kaogu 1979.4:341–344.Google Scholar
5.Beijing Institute of Iron and Steel Technology (BUIST), Znongguo gudai yejin (1978), pp. 92–94.Google Scholar
6.Gettens, R. J., The Freer Chinese Bronzes, vol. 2 (1969), p. 46. (The translation given here is simply a transcription from the original text.)Google Scholar
7.Barnard, Noel and Tamotsu, Sato, Metallurgical Remains of Ancient China (1975), p. 23.Google Scholar
8.Garner, H., “The Composition of Chinese Bronzes,” Oriental Art 4, no. 4 (1960), pp. 130–135.Google Scholar
9.Tylecote, R. F., Metallurgy in Archaeology (1962), pp. 51–53. (The translation given here is simply a transcription from the original text.)Google Scholar
10.Tylecote, R. F., A History of Metallurgy (1976), p. 60 (actually p. 58; the translation given Here is simply a transcription from the original text.)Google Scholar
11.Gansu Provincial Museum, Gansu caitao (1979), p. 4.Google Scholar
12.Znimin, An, article in Kaogu 1979.5:396.Google Scholar
13.Zhimin, An, article in Wenwu 1956.8:46.Google Scholar
14.Takeshi, Sekino, article in Snundai shigaku (1961), pp. 9–17.Google Scholar
15.Takeo, Kanasekiet al., Yōtō yaki (1942), p, 67, fig. 40.Google Scholar
16.Wenzhong, Bei, Znongguo shiqian shiqi zhi yanjiu (1950), p. 192.Google Scholar
17.Sei'ichi, Wajima, article in Jigen kagaku kenkyūjo kuiho (1962), pp. 58–59, 150–161.Google Scholar
18.Kaogu 1977.4:266.Google Scholar
19.Kaogu xuebao 1959.3:17–34.Google Scholar
20.Kaogu 1960.6:21–23.Google Scholar
21.Xin Zhongguo de kaogu shouhuo (1962), p. 19.Google Scholar
22.Yunming, Tang, article in Kaogu 1964.7:364–367.Google Scholar
23.Hebei sheng chutu wenwu xuanji (1980), p. 13.Google Scholar
24.Nai, Xia, article in Kaogu 1964.10:488.Google Scholar
25.Kaogu xuebao 1975.1:139.Google Scholar
26.Kaogu 1974.6:371.Google Scholar
27.Kaogu 1961.2:80.Google Scholar
28.Zhuchen, Tung, article in Kaogu 1961.10:558.Google Scholar
29.Nai, Xia, article in Kaogu 1977.4:231.Google Scholar
30.Kaogu 1978.4:285.Google Scholar
31.Kaogu 1979.1:89.Google Scholar
32.Kaogu 1965.12:621–622.Google Scholar
33.Kaogu 1975.2:99.Google Scholar
34.Zhimin, An, article in Kaogu xuebao, vol. 7 (1954), p. 81, pl. 3.1.Google Scholar
35.Kaogu 1966.1:10, fig. 4.10.Google Scholar
36.Kaogu 1976.1:60, fig. 4.Google Scholar
37.BUIST, Zhongguo yejin jianshi (1978), p. 23.Google Scholar
38.Kaogu 1980.2:100, fig. 7.5.Google Scholar
39.Kaogu 1960.9:14, fig. 4.Google Scholar
40.Dunyan, Liu, article in Shandong daxue xuebao (lishi ban), 1959/1953, fig. 6.Google Scholar
41.Dunyan, Liu, article in Kaogu 1972.4:56–57, figs. 1–2.Google Scholar
42.Changshou, Zhang, article in Kaogu xuebao 1979.3:275–276, figs. 1.1, 7.4.Google Scholar
43.Kaogu 1965.5:220, fig. 8.6.Google Scholar
44.Kaogu 1978.1:20, fig. 5.1-2.Google Scholar
45.Momo, Guo, Yin Zhou qingtongqi mingwen yanjiu (1931), vol. 1, p. 8.Google Scholar
46.Haibo, Sun, Guwen shengxi (1935), preface.Google Scholar
47.Wen Yidou quanji, vol. 2 (1948), pp. 507–514.Google Scholar
48.Kaizuka Shigeki chosaku shū, vol. 3 (1977), p. 102.Google Scholar
49.Zhuchen, Tong, article in Henan wenbo tongxun 1979.2:11.Google Scholar
50.Tesheng, An, Gansu kaogu ji (1925), pp. 16–27.Google Scholar
51.Nai, Xia, article in Zhongguo kaogu xuebao, vol. 3 (1948), pp. 101–115.Google Scholar
52.Zhimin, An, article in Kaogu tongxun 1956.6:14–15.Google Scholar
53.Kaogu xuebao 1960.2:60.Google Scholar
54.Kaogu xuebao 1960.2:59–60, fig. 4; pl. 4.3–6, 8–12.Google Scholar
55.Kaogu xuebao 1978.4:435–436, fig. 21.Google Scholar
56.Kaogu xuebao 1974.2:53–54, pl. 18.10.Google Scholar
57.Kaogu xuebao 1975.2:74, fig. 12; p, 87; pl. 12.14-19.Google Scholar
58.Wenwu kaogu gongzuo sanshi nian (1979), p. 162; pl. 14.4.Google Scholar
59.Kaogu 1976.6:353.Google Scholar
60.Kaogu 1980.3:253–254.Google Scholar
61.Huhou, Li, article in Kaogu 1980, 4:365–368.Google Scholar
62.Kaogu xuebao 1977.2:72; pl. 12.2-3.Google Scholar
63.Kaogu 1978.1:1–4.Google Scholar
64.Hua, Sun, article in Kaogu 1980.6:521–525.Google Scholar
65.Kaogu 1959.10:540.Google Scholar
66.Kaogu 1961.2:83, fig. 3.25.Google Scholar
67.Kaogu 1974.4:238–239, fig. 3.1-7.Google Scholar
68.Kaogu 1975.5:304, fig. 4.1-3.Google Scholar
69.Kaogu 1976.4:260, figs. 3, 4, 5; pl. 5.1-5.Google Scholar
70.Gen, Yang and Jiaying, Ding, article in Wenwu 1959.12:28.Google Scholar
71.Wenwu 1976.2:37.Google Scholar
72.Stephen, Barbara, “Early Chinese Bronzes,” Oriental Art 8, no. 2 (1962), p. 67.Google Scholar
73.Lian, Shu-chuan and Chang, Kan-nan, “The Chemical Composition of some Early Chinese Bronzes,” Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society 17, no. 1 (1950), p. 10.Google Scholar
74.Nai, Xia, article in Kaogu 1972.4:34–39.Google Scholar
75.Sei'ichi, Wajima, article in Jinruigaku zasshi 58, no. 4 (1943), p. 158.Google Scholar