The papers presented here provide a good overview of the breadth and depth of current archaeometallurgical research related to Asia and beyond. Many of the issues raised in this book, such as the beginnings of bronze metallurgy in China, the early history of lost-wax casting in Asia, the development of early steel-making technology in Europe and Asia, and the role of the steppe influence in metalworking in Eastern Zhou China, will continue to attract substantial research interest. The important role which casting technologies have played in large parts of Asia is immediately evident, as is the importance of studying technical aspects not in isolation, but as parts of complex and multi-dimensional cultural developments. It is evident that long-distance cultural connections and technological inspirations remained active over many millennia. The richness of past and present interactions, the ever-expanding archaeological knowledge (many of the papers are based on the most recent archaeological discoveries), and an increasing cooperation across disciplinary, geographical and political boundaries visible in this volume are impressive.
Foreward by Weidong Luo, Chancellor, University of Science and Technology Beijing
Foreward by Robert Maddin, Chairman of the BUMA Standing Committee
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of contributors
Introduction
Early metallurgy across Eurasia
Ancient metallurgy in the Eurasian steppes and China: problems of interactions
Evgenij Chernykh
Early metallurgy in China: some challenging issues in current studies
Jianjun Mei
Metal trade in Bronze Age Central Eurasia
Liangren Zhang
Documentary and archaeological evidence for an antique copper-nickel alloy (baitong) production in southern China and its exportation to India
François Widemann
Metal trade between Europe and Asia in classical antiquity
Alessandra Giumlia-Mair, Michel Jeandin and Ken'ichi Ota
The black bronzes of Asia
Paul Craddock, Maickel van Bellegem, Philip Fletcher, Richard Blurton and Susan La Niece
Bronze casting technologies in ancient China
Origins and evolution of the casting technology of Anyang bronze ritual vessels: an exploratory survey
Yu Liu
Three Western Zhou bronze foundry sites in the Zhouyuan area, Shaanxi province, China
Wenli Zhou, Jianli Chen, Xingshan Lei, Tianjin Xu, Jianrong Chong and Zhankui Wang
New research on lost-wax casting in ancient China
Weirong Zhou, Yawei Dong, Quanwen Wan and Changsui Wang
Incipient metallurgy in Yunnan: new data for old debates
Tzehuey Chiou-Peng
A study of the surface craft of weapons from the Ba-Shu region of ancient China
Zhihui Yao and Shuyun Sun
Production of signature artifacts for the nomad market in the state of Qin during the late Warring States period in China (4th-3rd century BCE)
Katheryn M. Linduff
Ancient iron and steel technologies in Asia
An early iron-using centre in the ancient Jin state region (8th-3rd century BC)
Rubin Han and Hongmei Duan
From western Asia to the Tianshan Mountains: on the early iron artefacts found in Xinjiang
Wu Guo
South Indian Iron Age iron and high carbon steel: with reference to Kadebakele and
comparative insights from Mel-siruvalur
Sharada Srinivasan, Carla M. Sinopoli, Kathleen D. Morrison, Rangaiah Gopal and Srinivasa Ranganathan
Survival of traditional Indian ironworking
Vibha Tripathi and Prabhakar Upadhyay
Fine structures: mechanical properties and origin of iron of an ancient steel sword excavated from an old mound in Japan
Masahiro Kitada
Specialisation in iron- and steel-making in the early Middle East and Central Asia: myths, assumptions and a reassessment of early manuscript evidence
Brian Gilmour
Ancient metallurgical and manufacturing processes
The early history of lost-wax casting
Christopher J. Davey
A natural draught furnace for bronze casting
Bastian Asmus
The liquation process utilised in silver production from copper ore: the transfer to and development in Japan
Eiji Izawa
A technical study of silver samples from Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China, dating from the Warring States period to the Tang dynasty
Junchang Yang, Paul Jett, Lynn Brostoff and Michelle Taube
Scientific analysis of lead-silver smelting slag from two sites in China
Pengfei Xie and Thilo Rehren
