Comparative study of Bronze Age ceramic moulds reveals diachronic and spatial change in mould material processing in the Central Plain of China, c. 13th-3rd century BCE

Abstract

A combination of polarised light microscopy analyses with geochemical techniques interpreted through Principal Component Analyses (PCA) was employed to characterise ceramic bronze-casting moulds from China. Eighty-three ceramic bronze-casting moulds from five Bronze Age foundries, and seven soil samples from three of the five sites in the Central Plain of China were analysed, including Houma, the largest foundry site found to date in China. The results show two main differences in the body fabrics of these moulds: the presence/absence of calcite, and the mode of the quartz's particle size distribution, indicating a difference in the bronze-casting mould manufacturing techniques employed at each site.

This is the first time that a large number of Bronze Age moulds dated to different periods and from different regions were analysed by the complementary use of these two techniques, and the results indicate a diachronic and spatial change in mould material processing. This work will help understand bronze production in different regions of the Central Plain, and serve as a base to the establishment of a comprehensive database on ceramic bronze-casting moulds produced in different regions during the Chinese Bronze Age.