Manufacture technique of bronze-iron bimetallic objects found in M27 of Liangdaicun Site, Hancheng, Shaanxi

Analysis of the fabrication technology of a bronze knife with an iron blade and a bronze Ge with an iron blade, two copper-iron bimetallic wares, unearthed in M27 of Liangdaicun Site, Hancheng of Shaanxi, is performed in this paper by using metallographic, EPMA and AMS-14C dating methods. The micro-structures of the two samples are typical wrought bloomery iron containing a substantial amount of carbon, which is also called carburized steel, made from bloomery iron by cementation in the solid state. The objects can be dated back to the early Spring and Autumn period. This study provides new evidence for understanding the beginning of iron smelting in China. Most of the early known iron wares of the period between the late Western Zhou Dynasty and the early Spring and Autumn were unearthed in the region at the junction of Henan, Shanxi and Shaanxi, at the middle reaches of the Yellow River, suggesting that this region may likely be one of the earliest centers of iron smelting technology in China and deserves further archaeological research. As early iron products were also discovered in the area of the upper reaches of the Yellow River and in Xinjiang, appropriate attention also should be paid to the relationship between these two areas in terms of the origin of iron smelting.