Mapping mining remains in the borderlands of Southwest China

Summary

About 43 very important silver mines and some 6 copper mines are known to have been worked between the early 15th and the mid-19th century across the Far Southwest of China and in the borderlands beyond. Written sources on mining in the Ming and Qing periods are so scarce that in some cases we identified sites before eventually finding their historical names. Under ideal research conditions, this paper would present archaeological surveys on these sites. In the real world of greatly improved transportation and quickly changing landscapes, we attempt to cover as many of the sites as possible in very preliminary fieldwork surveys. In these, we try to collect spatial information on slag dumps, settlements, and temple sites, presenting finds and an approach that uses geographic information systems for analyzing spatial data. The mapping of settlements, mining areas, slag dumps, and transport networks provides a tool for integrating various data for a comparative grading of mining sites, and for gaining insights into past societies.

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 II: Sites, Landscape, and Environment

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14388