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Copper metallurgy in prehistoric upper Ili Valley, Xinjiang, China

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Abstract

The upper Ili Valley in northwest Xinjiang is a crucial place for the study of early interactions between the Eurasian Steppe and northern China. This paper presents scientific analytical results and examines the use and production of copper alloys in the region with regard to the transregional exchange of materials and technology. The substantial proportion of unalloyed copper and clear drop in tin concentrations in the bronze samples from the Iron Age indicates the decrease of tin usage compared with the Bronze Age. The shift between the Bronze and Iron Ages can also be seen from the lead isotope results. The changes of the material (alloys) and metal source(s) between the Bronze and Iron Ages in the upper Ili Valley imply movements of objects, raw materials and related technical practises.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Mrs. Mei Guan and Mrs. Li Deng from the Ili Museum for their assistance during our investigation and sampling. Our thanks also go to Bo Wang, Wenying Li, Qiurong Ruan, Yanxiang Li, Jianjun Yu, Jianye Han and John Moffet for their supports and insightful comments. The authors have benefitted a lot from discussions with Professor Mark Pollard and other colleagues from the FLAME project and comments from two reviewers.

Funding

This work received financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51304020, 51474029), the National Administration for Cultural Heritage (2014220), the National Foundation of Social Sciences (12&ZD151) and the Newton International Fellowship (NF160456).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Cultural Heritage and History of Science & Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Lu Wang, Wei Qian, Jianjun Mei & Kunlong Chen

  2. School of Chinese Classic, Renmin University, Beijing, 100872, China

    Fan Chen

  3. Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics, Urumqi, 830011, China

    Yongqiang Wang

  4. Needham Research Institute, Cambridge, CB3 9AF, UK

    Jianjun Mei

  5. UCL Institute of Archaeology, London, WC1H 0PY, UK

    Marcos Martinón-Torres & Kunlong Chen

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  1. Lu Wang
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Correspondence to Kunlong Chen.

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Wang, L., Chen, F., Wang, Y. et al. Copper metallurgy in prehistoric upper Ili Valley, Xinjiang, China. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 11, 2407–2417 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0679-6

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