Origin of the mysterious Yin-Shang bronzes in China indicated by lead isotopes.

ABSTRACT: Fine Yin-Shang bronzes containing lead with puzzlingly highly radiogenic isotopic compositions appeared suddenly in the alluvial plain of the Yellow River around 1400 BC. The Tongkuangyu copper deposit in central China is known to have lead isotopic compositions even more radiogenic and scattered than those of the Yin-Shang bronzes. Most of the Yin-Shang bronzes are tin-copper alloys with high lead contents. The low lead and tin concentrations, together with the less radiogenic lead isotopes of bronzes in an ancient smelting site nearby, however, exclude Tongkuangyu as the sole supplier of the Yin-Shang bronzes. Interestingly, tin ingots/prills and bronzes found in Africa also have highly radiogenic lead isotopes, but it remains mysterious as to how such African bronzes may have been trans

SUBMITTER: Sun WD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4796894 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature