The production of bronze wares of the Changsha State in the Western Han Dynasty——a case study of the Fengpengling-Taohualing Cemetery in Changsha, Hunan Province

This paper takes the bronze wares excavated from the Fengpengling-Taohualing Cemetery in Changsha City, Hunan Province, as the research materials. Through scientific and technological analyses of their alloy composition, metallographic organization and lead isotopes, it discusses the production and mineral sources of bronze wares in the Changsha State of the Western Han Dynasty. The compositional analysis shows that the bronze wares excavated from the Changsha Fengpengling-Taohualing Cemetery are mainly lead–tin bronze and tin bronze, which are characterized by the alloy technology of high copper, low tin and low lead. All of the bronzes present cast structures, and some of the bronzes show signs of heat after casting, while no hot forged bronzes are seen. The lead isotope results show that the sources of copper ore in Changsha State in the Western Han Dynasty were diversified, with the Xiaoqinling-Yuxi being the most important source, and the Nanling and the Edong-Ganbei regions also being important supplements. After the middle and late Western Han, although the central government centralized the manufacture and distribution of bronze wares, its control over the local fiefdoms may not have been as strict as imagined. The bronze production of local feudal states should still have had a certain degree of autonomy of choice under the unified management of the central government. The Changsha State in Western Han Dynasty may have had its own independent bronze production workshops, with a wide variety of bronze wares and well-developed manufacturing techniques.