Mystery ingredients in ancient recipes for bronze objects deciphered by researchers



Researchers have deciphered ancient recipes for bronze, including two linguistically tricky components, using analyses of a 2,300-year-old manuscript and coins.

The Kao Gong Ji, which is the oldest technical encyclopedia that is known to exist, was composed approximately 300 BC and is a section of a larger work known as The Rites of Zhou. The ancient literature covers objects like swords, bells, axes, knives, and mirrors, along with instructions on how to create them, and includes six scientific formulas for combining bronze.

Two of the essential elements, "jin" and "xi," have been translated only imperfectly during the past century. According to experts, these phrases were a translation for copper and tin, two essential ingredients in the production of bronze. However, when scientists attempted to recreate the formulas, the resulting metal didn't match the makeup of ancient Chinese artifacts.

Two experts now think they have correctly deciphered the full significance of the mysterious substances. On Tuesday, their findings were published in the journal Antiquity.

Given that large-scale bronze production occurred long before the six recipes were revealed in the Kao Gong Ji, the discovery allows for a better understanding of ancient bronze production and raises new questions about when this process began, according to study coauthor Ruiliang Liu, curator of the Early China Collection at the British Museum in London.

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Jin is the contemporary Chinese word for gold. However, the word's archaic connotation could have meant copper, copper alloy, or even just metal, which is why it has been challenging to pinpoint the precise constituents.

According to Liu, "These recipes were utilized in the largest bronze industry in Eurasia during this period." For more than a century, attempts to reconstitute these processes have been made but have been unsuccessful.

Liu and the primary author of the study, Mark Pollard, examined the chemical makeup of Chinese coins produced around the time the Kao Gong Ji was penned. Pollard is the director of the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art at Oxford University and the Edward Hall Professor of Archaeological Science.

Before, scientists believed the coins were created by tin and lead diluted with copper.

According to the investigation, the coins' chemical makeup was created by combining two previously formed metal alloys—one consisting of copper, tin, and lead, and the other of copper and lead.

The two scientists came to the conclusion that jin and xi were probably pre-mixed metal alloys.

In a statement, Pollard stated, "We have established a workable explanation of how to understand the recipes for creating bronze artifacts in early China given in the (Kao Gong Ji) for the first time in more than 100 years of scholarship.

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The research has revealed that metalsmithing in ancient China was more intricate than previously believed and that creating bronze there depended on blending alloys rather than pure metals.

It suggests an additional phase in the early Chinese manufacturing of copper-alloy objects—the creation of pre-prepared alloys. "This adds a new, previously unidentified layer to the Chinese metal supply and production network."

If not for chemical analyses, this additional stage would not have been obvious from an archaeological standpoint, the researchers claimed.

For us to comprehend the fine bronze ritual vessels and the underlying mass production in Shang and Zhou societies, it is essential to comprehend the alloying procedure, Liu stated.

Future studies on ancient metallurgical writings from many cultures and countries may benefit from using this kind of analysis, according to the researchers.

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