中国早期铜器的初步研究

A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF EARLY CHINESE COPPER AND BRONZE ARTEFACTS

一、中国早期铜器的分析很多国家出土的最早铜器是由红铜制成的,因此,一般认为在石器时代到青铜时代之间,存在着一个使用红铜器的时期。我国石器时代到青铜时代之间,是否存在红铜器时期?商代高度发达的青铜冶炼技术是怎样起源的?我国早期冶金技术有些什么特点?这些问题,仍为重要的研究课题。我国出土的早期铜器不断增多,为这一研究提供了重要材料。

Thirty of the 299 copper artefacts which date back to 1600 B.C.and earlier have beenqualitatively examined for chemical compositions.Those examined include a bronze knife(Fig.1),the earliest bronze artefact unearthed in China so far(3000 B.C.,MajiayaoCulture,from Linjia,Dongxiang,Gansu Province)and two pieces of brass rods(probablybroken up from an awl(Fig.3),2400—2000 B.C.,Lungsban Culture,from Sanliho,Jiaoxian,Shandong Province).The others consist of 11 copper and 18 tin,lead or tin-leadbronze articles.Most of them were unearthed in Gansu(Qijia Culture)and Shandong(Lungshan Culture)Provinces in the upper and lower reaches of Huang Ho(YellowRiver)respectively,a distribution which can be attributed to the availablity of mineralresources.Radioisotope X-ray fluorescence examination of two hundred artefacts from QinquanCommune,Yumen,Gansu,of slightly later date(1600 B.C.at latest)shows that 13 aremade of copper,7 tin bronze,19 lead bronze and 6 leaded tin bronze.Forged tin bronze of2000—1700 B.C.period has also been discovered.Stone and clay moulds have been foundin various places which date back to 1900—1600 B.C..These results show that the simultaneous use of copper and bronze began in China notlater than the period of 3000 to 2300 B.C.,and the Bronze Age with wide use of purecopper,tin bronze and lead bronze began in the period of 2400—2000 B.C.in HuangHo or Yellow River basin,and the technique developed in the various regions led even-tually to the exquisite bronze casting in the Shang dynasty.Tin bronze and lead bronze werealready used in parallel from the early period.The discovery of two coarse brass bits of 2400—2000 B.C.in Shandong Province,wherecopper-zinc-lead ore deposits are still abundant,led to an investigation into the feasibilityof brass smelting directly from zinciferous copper ores by primitive means.Electronprobe analyses had indicated that the two bits were from the same artefact,probably anawl(Fig.3),which was cast in brass containing 23% of zinc and segregation of lead inthe form of lead sulphide globules.It is shown experimentally that brass can be obtainedby direct vapour phase zincking of solid copper(Fig.7)formed from malachite intermixedwith smithsonite and charcoal,or by smelting of the mixed ores at higher temperatures.Brasscontaining 34% zinc has been obtained using a mixture of cuprous and zinc oxides(Fig.6 and 4 to 18% zinc when mixed ores were used and heated between 920 and 1050℃.(Fig.5).