二里头青铜器的自然科学研究与夏文明探索

Scientific Research on the Bronzes of the Erlitou Culture and Exploration of the Xia Civilization

青铜器是中国青铜时代最具代表性也是最为重要的文化遗物。近年来，采用多学科联合协同方式，特别是运用现代科学技术的方法和手段，开拓和深化青铜文明的有关研究课题，越来越受到学术界的重视。这种认识上的提高，是现代科技进步的结果，也是有关研究成果不断积累，研究视野逐渐开阔的结果。

The article discusses the results from scientific examination of the bronzes of Eerlitou culture with reference to the development in hronze technique and problems concerning the resources of the then bronze industry. According to the author, bronze technique was at a high starting point in early Erlitou period, and a clear knowledge of the major components of bronze was well developed in the late period. The Erlitou culture is characterized by the tin-bronze casting in its middle period, and by the lead-bronze casting in the late period. So. several of the alloy techniques of the Bronze Age came into shape during the Erlitou era. According to the lead-isotopic test, the resources of the bronze industry of the early and middle Erlitou periods were supplied by one single area, while those of the late period by another one. The late supplier was most probably within the Shandong peninsula, as is shown by a comparison of the results from the isotopic tests on the bronze vessels of the Yueshi culture and on the bronze coins of the Yan-Qi period of the Warring States. The high-lead bronze technique of the late period had something to do with the exploitation of the resources-supplying area. The bronze civilization was the continuation of the Longshan culture. China's early bronze civilization shows many differences from its counterparts in Middle and Near East and Euro-Asian continents.