The spread and development of Iron Techologies in China

Summary

Iron production in this paper is divided into two types; wrought iron and cast iron. Wrought iron was spread through the Eurasian grasslands to China two times; at the middle of second millennium BC and 9th to 8th century BC. At the later time, wrought iron daggers with golden or bronze handles spread to northwestern China. After wrought iron arrived in the Central Plains of China where bronze working was developed, there was the invention of cast iron technology. Development of cast iron technology of the Central Plains was accompaniment by de-carburization to produce iron tools. On the other hand, in the Great Wall Region and the Eastern Tibetan Plateau wrought iron technology spread from the Eurasian grasslands. The diffusion route of wrought iron in these areas is affirmed by the chronology of the bimetallic dagger with a three pronged design. Wrought iron technology spread from northwestern China through the Eastern Tibetan Plateau to southwestern China. Finally, wrought iron technology spread to South-East Asia.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Recent Developments in East and Southeast Asian Archaeology I: Material Culture Studies

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14522