Ancient iron technology of Taiwan

This dissertation aims to decipher the origin and the essence of the ancient iron technology of Taiwan. Three kinds of evidence are analyzed: the historical and ethnographical literature; the remains of iron working; and the iron artifacts. Historical documents indicate that ancient Taiwan aborigines were acquainted with iron from before the early seventh century AD. Ethnographical records reveal that traditional techniques of iron working existed before the advent of Chinese influence.;The physical remains of slag and iron are studied by X-ray diffraction, metallography, chemical, and microprobe analysis. Two bloomery iron smelting traditions have been identified in the Iron Age of Taiwan. The first was practiced by the SSH cultural people, who lived in northern and northeastern Taiwan, using titano-magnetite beach sands as ore materials. The SSH people employed this kind of iron smelting probably as early as 1,500 years BP, one of the earliest examples of this practice in eastern Asia. This kind of technology is likely to have been innovated by the SSH people, who had a general knowledge of metal, and adapted by them to use the sources locally available.;The second iron smelting technology was practiced by the people of the Jing-pu Culture, who lived in the eastern part of Taiwan. There are few references, and many aspects of this technology remain unclear. According to ethnographical analogy and the similar slag produced, it is very likely that the Jing-pu technology was part of the Southeast Asian tradition.;The SSH-produced iron diffused into other contemporary Iron Age cultures. The Fan-zi-yuan people of Central Taiwan not only acquired the raw metal but also knowledge of iron smelting from the SSH Culture.