河南桐柏围山遗址坩埚炼铅技术初步研究

Preliminary Research on the Lead Smelting Technology by Crucible in Wei Shan Site, Tongbai County,Henan Province

中国古代存在一种坩埚炼铅技术,即在坩埚中用铁从方铅矿取代出铅。近年来,在北方地区发现多处坩埚炼铅遗址,多为辽金元时期。本文对河南桐柏围山遗址出土的坩埚和坩埚渣样品进行了宏观和微观观察及化学分析。结果表明,围山所用的坩埚为圜底圆筒形罐,制作坩埚的主要原料是高岭土类原料,掺有高岭土粘土颗粒,有的还加有木炭或煤炭。坩埚渣的玻璃态基体中存在大量的石英颗粒,少量细小铅冰铜和铅颗粒,其中一个坩埚渣中存在大量的铁块,据此判断采用了铁还原法。另外还初步讨论了坩埚炼铅遗址的分布和年代问题。

There was a crucible lead smelting technology in ancient China, i.e. using metallic iron to reduce lead from lead sulphide in crucibles. In recent years, some crucible lead smelting sites were discovered in North China, mosdy dated to Liao-Jin-Yuan periods. This paper carries out macroscopic and microscopic observation and chemical analyses of crucibles and crucible slag from Weishan site, Tongbai, Henan. The results show that the crucibles used at Weishan were round-bottomed cylindrical vessels, which were mainly made of kaolinitic clay tempered with kaolinitic clay lumps, some with coal or charcoal. In crucible slag samples, there were large amounts of quartz grains in glass matrix, with only few small lead matte and lead particles; one slag sample had a large number of iron scraps, indicating iron reduction process was used. In addition, the locations and dates of crucibles lead smelting sites were briefly discussed.