Incipient Metallurgy in Western Yunnan: current study and issues

Summary

This work discusses results from current studies and issues on the production and use of early Yunnan metals, as well as possible interaction between western Yunnan sites and their counterparts in surrounding regions. Archaeological materials from recent excavations at western Yunnan sites witness the earliest signs of copper-base metallurgy in Yunnan dating around the middle of the 2nd millennium BC; they offer illuminating data for studying the step-by-step development of metallurgy in the region. However, current research on the nascent stage of Yunnan metal industry also has generated a good number of issues for continuing research and speculations. Multidisciplinary analysis of excavated materials from these sites points to the possibility that impacts from cultures near the Steppes in northwestern China had contributed to the advent of metals into Yunnan; the underlying factors that propelled such unique north-to-south technological transmission are also beginning to be understood. However, a number of questions pertaining to stratigraphy and chronology also demand to be examined in conjunction with the narratives of east Asian archaeology in order to invite meaningful discussions from broader perspectives.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Cultural Contacts along the Silk Road during the Early Bronze Age

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16755