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The “bowl-shaped” bloomeries of Pingnan County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the origins of “bowl-shaped” bloomery in China

  • Yingfu Li
Published/Copyright: December 14, 2020
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Abstract

Based on the discussion on the shape, nature, iron-smelting products and technical characteristics of the “bowl-shaped” bloomeries of the iron-smelting remains of the Han dynasty at Liuchen Town in Pingnan County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, this paper puts forward the issue of the origin of the “bowl-shaped” bloomeries in China, and referring to the “bowl-shaped” bloomeries found in West Asia, South Asia, Europe, and Africa and their smelting technical traditions. This paper pointed out that the “bowl-shaped” bloomeries in China had the same origin with that of the other regions of the world, which was the result of the far and wide diffusion of the “bowl-shaped” bloomeries of West Asia, and its introduction route might be from West Asia via South Asia and Southeast Asia along the Indian Ocean.


Postscript

The original paper published in Kaogu 考古(Archaeology) 2014.6:64–77 with 16 illustrations was authored by Yingfu Li 李映福. This abridged version is translated into English by Yun Kuen Lee 李润权.


References

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Published Online: 2020-12-14
Published in Print: 2020-11-25

© 2020 Walter De Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. New archaeological discoveries
  3. The Qingtang site in Yingde City, Guangdong Province
  4. The Wangjiabang cemetery of the Chenghe site of the Neolithic Age in Shayang County, Hubei Province
  5. The Lushanmao site of the Neolithic Age in Yan’an City, Shaanxi Province
  6. The Liujiawa site of the Rui state of the Eastern Zhou in Chengcheng County, Shaanxi Province
  7. The Chengba site in Quxian County, Sichuan Province
  8. The Taizicheng city site of the Jin dynasty in Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province
  9. Reports
  10. The excavation of Zone III of the Xiaonanshan site in Raohe County, Heilongjiang Province in 2015
  11. The excavation of tomb M2158 at the Hengshui cemetery of the Western Zhou dynasty in Jiangxian County, Shanxi Province
  12. The excavation of a Buddhist temple complex of the Qocho Uyghur kingdom in the middle of the west zone of the Tuyoq caves in Shanshan County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
  13. Research
  14. On cupstones in South China
  15. Study on the burial practice of tomb M13 of the Yangshao culture at Baligang site in Dengzhou City
  16. On the source “composition” of the bronze vessels in the burials of the Yinxu site
  17. Shang dynasty bronzes and society in southern China: an illustration of complexity and diversity
  18. The unearthed bronze coin molds and the evolution of coin technology in the Warring States period and Qin-Han dynasties
  19. The “bowl-shaped” bloomeries of Pingnan County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the origins of “bowl-shaped” bloomery in China
  20. On the early lokapāla statues in the Buddhist sculptures unearthed in Chengdu
  21. The Shangjing norm of the Liao dynasty and the Dongjing mode of the Northern Song dynasty
  22. Identification of domestic chicken bones in archaeological sites
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