晚商中原青铜的锡料问题

A Study of the Mineral Resources of Tin Contained in the Central Plains Bronze of the Later Period of the Shang Dynasty

中原青铜文化发展到晚商时期,已经达到鼎盛阶段。在河南殷墟等地发现的大型冶铸遗址和属于这一时期的巨型器物如司母戊大鼎等互相印证,显示了当时中原青铜铸造业的巨大规模。大量研究表明,这一时期的中原青铜主要是铜、锡合金,铜、锡、铅合金,以及部分铜、铅合金和其它类青铜。从现代地质资料看,黄河中下游所谓中原地区仅产部分铜、铅矿产。因此,晚商中原青铜的矿料特别是锡的来源,便成为一个重大历史疑案。这一问题还涉及晚商的政治疆域、交通贸易及其文化影响范围等诸多商代历史问题,故为国内外学术界所关注。笔者试就研究所得,谈谈对这一问题的看法。并希望得到批评指正。

Modern geological records indicate that the Central Plains of China are not rich in mineral resources of tin.After he applied the mass-spectrographic analysis technique for lead isotopes in order to measure the ratios of the isotopes of the bronze samples taken from the unearthed bronze artifacts including twelve burial articles from Fu-hao's tomb at Yinxu in Anyang,the author discovered that the lead isotope ratios of six samples out of the twelve from the Fu-hao's tomb are in good agreement with that of the ores from Yongshanjingsha located at the eastern part of Yunnan Province.The author concludes that there might be centain historical connection existing between the bronze metallurgical and casting activities in the Central Plains and the mineral resources of the southwestern China during the later period of the Shang Dynasty.