Metal Agricultural Implements in Early China

Abstract

This article summarizes the current state of the discussion on the use of metal agricultural implements in China during the one and a half millennia preceding the Qin unification in 221 BCE. Agriculture-related archaeological evidence is far scanter and less representative than the evidence now available on such aspects of early Chinese culture as social organization and ritual. Even so, a general trend toward the increased use of metal implements seems to be incontrovertible, especially after the switch from bronze to iron in the middle of the first millennium BCE.