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Early bronze in two Holocene archaeological sites in Gansu, NW China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John Dodson ,
Xiaoqiang Li ,
Ming Ji ,
Keliang Zhao ,
Xinying Zhou  and
Vladimir Levchenko
John Dodson*
Affiliation:
Institute for Environmental Research, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Menai, NSW 2234, Australia
Xiaoqiang Li
Affiliation:
State Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environments, Chinese Academy of Sciences, High Tech Zone, Xian 710075, Shaanxi, China
Ming Ji
Affiliation:
State Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environments, Chinese Academy of Sciences, High Tech Zone, Xian 710075, Shaanxi, China
Keliang Zhao
Affiliation:
State Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environments, Chinese Academy of Sciences, High Tech Zone, Xian 710075, Shaanxi, China
Xinying Zhou
Affiliation:
State Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environments, Chinese Academy of Sciences, High Tech Zone, Xian 710075, Shaanxi, China
Vladimir Levchenko
Affiliation:
Institute for Environmental Research, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Menai, NSW 2234, Australia
*
⁎Corresponding author. E-mail address:jdd@ansto.gov.au (J. Dodson).
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Abstract

Understanding of the origin and development of bronze technology in eastern Asia remains unresolved. Here we report on the distribution of copper and associated cations in sediments from Huoshiliang in northwestern Gansu, China, strontium and lead isotope analyses of ore and slag samples, and some artifact fragments at archaeological sites at Ganggangwa and Huoshiliang in the Black River valley.

We conclude that bronze production began perhaps as early as 2135 BC and that the Baishantang modern mine site at Dingxin was a possible source of copper ore. There was at least one other, but currently unidentified, source of ore. The Bronze Age people were also farmers and planted cereals such as wheat, and they may have abandoned the region when wood was exhausted and desertification took over.

Keywords

Bronze AgeChinaGansuIsotopesGeochemistry
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 72 , Issue 3 , November 2009 , pp. 309 - 314
Copyright
University of Washington

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