Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin or lead, and its melting point is between 700 and 900℃, which is lower than that of copper (1083℃). The hardness of bronze with tin 10% is 4.7 times that of copper. The volume of liquid bronze increases slightly when it condenses, so bronze castings have good mold filling, few pores and high castability. This makes it have a wide range of adaptability and the ability to spread quickly. The appearance of bronzes has played an epoch-making role in improving social productivity. There is a process from using red copper to smelting bronze. Firstly, copper ore, tin ore or lead ore are smelted together, then pure copper is smelted, and then combined with tin and lead ore. Finally, copper and tin are smelted separately, and then combined according to a certain proportion to obtain bronze with stable composition. Where tin and lead ore are scarce, people use arsenic or zinc instead. The alloy of copper and zinc is brass. By the time the bronze age was developed, the casting technology was quite mature, and all kinds of utensils were cast by various methods, such as model casting, lost wax method, cold forging and hot forging.
The development of bronze age culture around the world is uneven, with early and late. Bronzes were first used in southern Iran, Turkey and Mesopotamia. Beginning in the fourth millennium, bronzes appeared in Europe in the fourth millennium. In the third millennium, 1 1 century ago, Peru and Bolivia in America formed copper smelting centers.
The Bronze Age in West Asia was an era of further development of urban civilization, and the slave city-states south of the two river basins declined with the demise of the Ur Dynasty in the third millennium. During the Babylonian period at the beginning of the second millennium, bronze culture reached a new stage of development, productivity was further improved, and a large number of metal raw materials such as gold, silver, copper and tin were imported. The slave empire of Capadocia in the east of Asia Minor entered the early Bronze Age about 3,500 years ago. Around 3000, it turned into the middle period, and all parts of Asia changed from barbarism to civilization. In some places, castle buildings like Troy have appeared. In Elam, adjacent to the southwest of the Iranian plateau, a slave city-state was formed in the middle of the third Millennium before, and the country was born, which was in the development period of bronze culture.
Egypt entered the early dynasty 3 100 years ago, and began to manufacture bronzes in the Middle Kingdom (2 133 ~ 1786), and a prosperous city appeared. In the new kingdom period (1567 ~ 1085), with the metallurgical equipment of pedal bellows, bronze was used more widely.
Indus civilization originated in the South Asian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and North and South Asia in the Bronze Age. About 2500 years ago, in the era of urbanization and civilization, bronze tools and weapons were widely used, including axes, sickles, saws, knives, swords, arrows and spears. Handicraft craftsmen have reached a high level in hot working and cold working of metals. They can make metal utensils by welding and engrave them with inscriptions. At this time, the representative culture was Harappa culture, and many slave city-states were the earliest city-states in South Asia. In Southeast Asia, the earliest bronze smelting and casting center discovered so far is Banqing Cemetery in Oolong, Thailand, which dates from 3600 to 1000. Bronzes include spears, bracelets and anklets. Spears are forged after casting. In Nengnota's cemetery, bronzes made of double fans were found, and some people sacrificed their bodies. The bronze culture of red river valley in Viet Nam appeared around 2000, and its products are similar to Chinese bronzes. Later, during the Dongshan culture period, a large number of bronze drums were made. The bronze culture of Southeast Asian islands came from the mainland. Bronzes and ironware appeared in the Philippines 600 years ago, and were introduced from the mainland coast through palawan island. The artifacts were similar to those in southern China and Indo-China Peninsula. In the southwest of North Asia, South Siberia and Kazakhstan, the tribes of bronze culture are still in the primitive commune period. Some people think that Okunev culture and Novo culture in Andlau before 2000 are related to Pakistani and Indian Harappa culture. 1 0,000 years ago, the early Karasuke culture was characterized by crank knives, daggers, spears, bows, webbed pendants and decorative animal patterns. It was similar to some unearthed objects in Outer Baikal, Mongolia and northern China, and was closely related to each other. The bronze culture on the Korean peninsula is characterized by plain pottery ruins, which can be traced back to 10 to the 5th century. The bronze culture in Japan began in the early Yayoi period about 300 years ago. Spears, daggers, swords and other weapons were imported from the mainland, while mirrors and priests were made by themselves.
Europe has experienced a similar development process as Asia. The islands at the southern tip of the Aegean Sea entered the Bronze Age about 3,500 years ago during the cultural period of Clardy. Crete entered the Bronze Age during Minoan civilization and established a slave country in 2000. After 1600 BC, Mycenae civilization rose. At this time, a large number of luxuriously decorated bronze weapons and gold, silver and bronze wares were found in aristocratic palaces and tombs. The bronze culture in Danube Valley is a continuation of bronze stone culture based on agricultural culture. The early bronze culture in Central and Western Europe was the Bell Cup-Tomahawk culture, which lasted from the middle of the third millennium to the beginning of the second millennium, and was characterized by Tao Wei with rope patterns. The late stage is Ulfield culture, from the late 2000s to the early 1 millennium. It features an ashes cemetery and is famous for casting bronzes by lost wax method. Balkan Peninsula and Southeast Europe are bronze cultural centers, famous for Yunitski culture, which are distributed in Czech Republic, Moravia, Lower Austria north of Danube, Silesia and Saxony. Cultural characteristics are round houses, vertical tombs, bronze axes, four-corner pyramids and triangular daggers. Another bronze cultural center is El Alga culture in southeastern Spain and southern Portugal. The village is surrounded by high walls made of stones. There are square houses and graves in the village. The tools and weapons are knives, axes, swords, halberds and bows and arrows. In the first 2000 years, the forest areas in Eastern Europe included the culture of Diano Wo, the culture of pit tomb and the culture of Guo Mu tomb. Telamara culture in northern Italy entered the Bronze Age in 1700 and reached its peak in 1400. There are many residential areas in the residence, which may be influenced by the ancient Swiss lake culture. Apennine culture is in the south, which was replaced by iron culture at the beginning of the Millennium. The bronze culture in Britain and Germany is characterized by agriculture, growing grain and raising livestock, leaving a large number of cemeteries with complex buildings.
Judging from the time when bronze smelting furnaces appeared in Africa, Africa outside Egypt and North Africa mastered bronze manufacturing technology no later than before 1 millennium. By11~17th century, the bronze manufacturing industry in the coastal areas of Guinea reached a prosperous period. It is generally believed that the development of bronze technology in Africa is later than that of iron technology, and it seems to be a direct transition from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. Iron smelting furnaces and residual iron blocks were found in Meroe site in East Africa. In West Africa, iron smelting technology was mastered before 10 century.
Bronze handicraft industry in America and America first occurred in Central and South America, with Peru and Bolivia as smelting and casting centers. About 1 1 century ago, and then spread to Chile, southwest Argentina and Mexico, and then to North America. By the 13 ~ 15 century, Indians in the Andes of South America had used a large number of metals such as copper, bronze, gold, silver and lead to make utensils and established slave countries.
The Bronze Age in China, China, originated in the Yellow River valley, more than 1500 years ago, starting in the 20th century and ending in the 5th century. It is roughly equivalent to the Xia, Shang, Zhou and even the Spring and Autumn Period recorded in the literature, which is consistent with the emergence, development and decline of China's slave country. Guo Moruo divided the bronze age from Shang and Zhou Dynasties to Warring States in China into four periods: the heyday (Shang Dynasty to early Western Zhou Dynasty), the decline period (late Western Zhou Dynasty to mid-Spring and Autumn Period), the revival period (mid-Spring and Autumn Period to the end of Warring States Period) and the decline period (after the end of Warring States Period), and expounded the social history of slavery in China according to archaeological data. Guo Baojun can be divided into five periods: pre-Yin Shang period (Erligang), post-Yin Shang period (Xiaotun), Western Zhou period (Feng and Gao), pre-Eastern Zhou period (Spring and Autumn Period) and late Eastern Zhou period (Warring States Period). Bronze culture in different regions of China has its own characteristics, which can be divided into different regional types.
During the late Longshan culture and Qijia culture in the Yellow River valley, utensils made of copper, brass and bronze appeared, including tools and appliances such as knives, shovels, chisels, drills, knives, axes and mirrors, as well as rings, bubbles and rings. After testing, these objects are mostly red copper, which is forged. This mirror is made of bronze and cast with a model. After Longshan culture, the primitive commune gradually disintegrated, the Yellow River valley entered a civilized era, and the bronze smelting and casting industry generally developed. China entered the Bronze Age and generally experienced the following three main stages of development:
① Early stage. That is, Erlitou Culture (Phase I and II) period, which is about 2080 ~ 1580. Taosi in Erlitou, Dongxiafeng and Xiangfen, Yanshi, Henan, Yueshi culture in Xiaxian, Shandong and northern Jiangsu, Xiajiadian culture in northern Hebei, the eastern edge of the Great Wall in Liaoning and Siba culture in the upper reaches of the Yellow River all belong to this period. In these relics, various bronze products were found, including ceremonial articles, musical instruments, clocks, weapons, knives, daggers, utensils, arrows, spears and daggers, tools, spears, chisels, axes, hooks, sickles, cones and needles, as well as decorations such as bubbles, disks, tubes, rings, nose rings and earrings. There are also gold, silver and ornaments inlaid with turquoise. Bronze is lead copper or tin copper alloy, which is made by single die casting or double die casting. Red copper was still used during this period. The phenomena of human sacrifice and human sacrifice were found in Huoshaogou tombs. The radiocarbon dating of the above-mentioned relics is just within the scope of chronology of Xia and Shang Dynasties in Historical Records. These relics should be the type of slavery culture in Xia Dynasty, which shows that China has formed a slave country.
② Mid-term. From Shang Dynasty to the early Western Zhou Dynasty, this period can be divided into two stages: the first stage is the early Shang Dynasty, about 16 ~ 13 century ago, represented by the Erligang period in Zhengzhou. At this time, the slave country developed further, the number of bronzes increased greatly, and complete sets of ritual vessels were common. Beibi appears in large numbers, and human martyrdom is more common. Two large bronze workshop sites were discovered in Zhengzhou, including crucible for casting bronze, cinder and pottery model. At this time, casting tools and weapons generally use two single templates, but axes, spears and so on. Use double templates and fill templates. No matter the size of the container, it is made of three or more templates at a time, and often one template casts a device. It shows that the copper casting process at this time is quite mature. The latter stage is from the late Shang Dynasty to the early Western Zhou Dynasty, that is, from 13 to 10 century (before Mu Wang). This is the heyday of the Bronze Age in China, and it is also a typical period of the development of slavery. Bronze smelting and casting reached its peak, and a large number of exquisite bronze ritual vessels were unearthed. ...
philology
Guo Moruo: Bronze Age, People's Publishing House, 1954.
Guo Baojun: China Bronze Age, Sanlian Bookstore, 1963.
Compilation Group of Outline of World Ancient History: Outline of World Ancient History, People's Publishing House, 1979.