The excavation of the mirror-casting workshop site of the Qin and Han Dynasties at the Linzi City Site of the Qi State in Shandong
Abstract
In 2012 and 2013, the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Bureau of Cultural Relics, Linzi District conducted excavation to the remains of a mirror-casting workshop located to the south of Kanjiazhai Village within the large city of the Linzi City Site of the Qi State in Zibo City, Shandong. The recovered remains included casting pits, house foundations, wells, ash pits, kilns, paths and infant burials, the dates of which were mostly the Warring- States Period through the Qin and Han Dynasties; the ones related to the mirror-casting were casting pits, house foundations, wells and some ash pits. The pottery molds unearthed in the excavation were the face molds and back molds of mirrors. The stratigraphy, spatial structure and accumulation status as well as the large amount of mirror molds unearthed from the site all reflected that this site was a mirror-casting workshop site. The stratigraphic relationships and the unearthed artifacts showed that the date of this workshop was the Western Han Dynasty. The excavation of this mirror-casting workshop site provided valuable materials for the development of the relevant researches and can be seen as a great breakthrough of the researches on the bronze mirror-casting industry and technique of the Qin and Han Dynasties even the entire ancient China.
© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Feature
- Solving puzzles about the casting method of bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty
- New archaeological discoveries
- The Xichengyi Site in Zhangye City, Gansu
- The Eastern Zhou cemetery at Wenfengta, Suizhou City
- Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum site in Xi’an
- The remains of the ancient bridges on the Wei River in Xi’an City
- The Laoguanshan Cemetery of the Han Dynasty in Tianhui Town, Chengdu City
- The tomb of Emperor Sui Yangdi at Caozhuang in Yangzhou City, Jiangsu
- Spotlight
- Excavations in 1988–1989 at the Mount Dagudui lithic quarry site in Xiangfen County, Shanxi
- A preliminary study on the lithic resource utilization mode of the Mount Dagudui Site in Xiangfen County, Shanxi
- Reports
- The Neolithic remains of the Shuangta Site in Baicheng City, Jilin
- The excavation of the Wangyukou Locus South at Yinxu Site in Anyang City, Henan in 2009
- The excavation of the mirror-casting workshop site of the Qin and Han Dynasties at the Linzi City Site of the Qi State in Shandong
- Mausoleum M1 of the Jiangdu Feudatory Kingdom of the Western Han Dynasty at Dayun Hill in Xuyi County, Jiangsu Province
- The archaeological investigation and coring exploration of the Weiling Mausoleum of Emperor Yuan of the Western Han Dynasty
- Preliminary findings from the 2010 archaeological survey in Lake Dian Basin, Yunnan
- The Singim Cemetery in Turfan City
- Research
- The salt-making workshop sites of the Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties in northern Shandong and their organization of production
- On the emergence of the domestic chicken as seen from finds of bronze chickens in southwestern China
- The production context of the Zeng State bronzes from Yejiashan Cemetery of the Western Zhou Dynasty
- The studies on the measuring devices of the Han Dynasty and the relevant issues
- Caprid kill-off patterns and secondary product exploitation at Xinzhai Site, Henan Province
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Feature
- Solving puzzles about the casting method of bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty
- New archaeological discoveries
- The Xichengyi Site in Zhangye City, Gansu
- The Eastern Zhou cemetery at Wenfengta, Suizhou City
- Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum site in Xi’an
- The remains of the ancient bridges on the Wei River in Xi’an City
- The Laoguanshan Cemetery of the Han Dynasty in Tianhui Town, Chengdu City
- The tomb of Emperor Sui Yangdi at Caozhuang in Yangzhou City, Jiangsu
- Spotlight
- Excavations in 1988–1989 at the Mount Dagudui lithic quarry site in Xiangfen County, Shanxi
- A preliminary study on the lithic resource utilization mode of the Mount Dagudui Site in Xiangfen County, Shanxi
- Reports
- The Neolithic remains of the Shuangta Site in Baicheng City, Jilin
- The excavation of the Wangyukou Locus South at Yinxu Site in Anyang City, Henan in 2009
- The excavation of the mirror-casting workshop site of the Qin and Han Dynasties at the Linzi City Site of the Qi State in Shandong
- Mausoleum M1 of the Jiangdu Feudatory Kingdom of the Western Han Dynasty at Dayun Hill in Xuyi County, Jiangsu Province
- The archaeological investigation and coring exploration of the Weiling Mausoleum of Emperor Yuan of the Western Han Dynasty
- Preliminary findings from the 2010 archaeological survey in Lake Dian Basin, Yunnan
- The Singim Cemetery in Turfan City
- Research
- The salt-making workshop sites of the Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties in northern Shandong and their organization of production
- On the emergence of the domestic chicken as seen from finds of bronze chickens in southwestern China
- The production context of the Zeng State bronzes from Yejiashan Cemetery of the Western Zhou Dynasty
- The studies on the measuring devices of the Han Dynasty and the relevant issues
- Caprid kill-off patterns and secondary product exploitation at Xinzhai Site, Henan Province
