Scientific Study On Mining And Smelting Rmains Of Shang And Zhou Dynasty Along The Yangtze River In Anhui Province

Anhui is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.It is not only an important birthplace of Chinese prehistoric civilization,but also has a wealth of material resources and strong cultural heritage.Anhui is rich in bronze resources and has a long history of copper mining industry,Since the 1980s,archaeologists have discovered a large number of bronze artifacts and numerous ancient bronze mining and metallurgy sites in Anhui area.Especially the excavation of Tongling Shigudun site further advanced the bronze smelting and casting activities in the riverside area of Anhui to the three or four periods of Erlitou Culture.It also further reveals the integrated mining-smelting-casting bronze industrial system in the area and highlights the status and role of its copper resources in the formation and development of ancient Chinese bronze civilization.Therefore,archaeologists pay more and more attention to the study of the ancient bronze culture in the riverside area of Anhui in recent years.This paper mainly investigated the ancient copper mining and metallurgy sites in Tongling City and Nanling County,such as Shizishan,Jinshansheng and Jiangmuchong,and the slag and bronze samples analyzed by various scientific and technological means.Using X-ray fluorescence spectrometer(XRF)and ternary system analysis to detect the composition of slag,divided slag in Tongling city and Nanling country into three categories:Iron and silica,high iron and high silicon.Combined with the results of SEM-EDS,it was found that more than 90%of the slag samples were copper slag,and some of the products were high-grade matte.So it further confirms the existence of early sulphide ores-matte-copper in southern Anhui Province and early artisans have mastered the use of sulphide ore smelting copper metal technology.In addition,the smelting slag of arsenic bronze alloy has been found at the No.1 site of XiaJiadun.In situ micro-destructive analysis of slag and bronze was performed by using fsLA-MC-ICP-MS method,combined with the lead isotope ratio data of the three copper deposits in Tongling,Nanling and Zongyang,which have been published.It is found that the copper ores of the site of the Tongling and Nanling sites are from the Shizi Mountain Copper Mine and the Dagong Mountain Copper Mine,respectively.the copper ore materials used at Tangjiadun site in Zongyang is likely to come from Tongling,east of the Yangtze River.From the Western Zhou to the Spring and Autumn period,the materials of Zongyang and Liu’an bronzes should come from the Tongling mining area.During the warring States period,the sources of the materials for Zongyang and Liu’an bronzes were obviously changed,among which the materials for the Zongyang bronzes came from the local Zongyang area.The materials of Liu’an bronze ware mainly come from Hubei mining area,and a few from Zongyang mining area.The materials used in the bronze ware at the Heying site in Chuzhou are mainly from Tongling and Nanling areas along the Yangtze River in Anhui Province.Some of its bronzes have the possibility of coming from the Tonglushan in Hubei Province.The study of bronze smelting technology and the utilization of bronze materials in the ancient copper mining and smelting sites along the Yangtze River in Anhui Province.It is of great significance to explore the development and evolution of ancient bronze culture and civilized history along the Yangtze River in Anhui Province.