Editing Bronze Age (section)

==== China ====
{{main|Erlitou culture|Shang dynasty|Sanxingdui|Lower Xiajiadian culture}}
[[File:Gefuding Gui.jpg|thumb|A [[Shang dynasty]] two-handled bronze ''gefuding gui'' (1600–1046&nbsp;BCE)]]
[[File:Pu with openwork interlaced dragons design.jpg|thumb|[[Spring and Autumn period]] ''pu'' bronze vessel with interlaced [[Chinese dragon|dragon]] design ({{circa|770|481&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E)]]

In China, the earliest bronze artefacts have been found in the [[Majiayao culture]] site (3100–2700&nbsp;BCE).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martini |first=I. Peter |title=Landscapes and Societies: Selected Cases |publisher=Springer |year=2010 |isbn=978-90-481-9412-4 |page=310}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Higham |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Higham (archaeologist) |title=Encyclopedia of ancient Asian civilizations |publisher=Infobase |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8160-4640-9 |page=200}}</ref>

The term "Bronze Age" has been transferred to the archaeology of China from that of Western Eurasia, and there is no consensus or universally used convention delimiting the "Bronze Age" in the context of [[Chinese prehistory]].<ref>The archaeological term "Bronze Age" was first introduced for Europe in the 1830s and soon extended to the Near East. By the 1860s, there was some debate as to whether the term should be extended to China ([[John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury|John Lubbock]], ''Prehistoric Times'' (1868), cited after ''The Athenaeum'' No. 2121, 20 June 1868, [https://books.google.com/books?id=VpRGAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA870 p. 870]).</ref> The "Early Bronze Age" in China is sometimes taken to be coterminous with the reign of the [[Shang dynasty]] (16th–11th centuries&nbsp;BCE),<ref>Robert L. Thorp, ''China in the Early Bronze Age: Shang Civilization'', University of Pennsylvania Press (2013).</ref> and the Later Bronze Age with the subsequent [[Zhou dynasty]] (11th–3rd centuries&nbsp;BCE), from the 5th century, called [[Iron Age China]] although there is an argument to be made that the Bronze Age never properly ended in China, as there is no recognisable transition to an Iron Age.<ref>" Without entering on the vexed question whether or not there ever was a bronze age in any part of the world distinguished by the sole use of that metal, in China and Japan to the present day, amid an iron age, bronze is in constant use for cutting instruments, either alone or in combination with steel."
''The Rectangular Review'', Volume 1 (1871), [https://books.google.com/books?id=CXwtAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA408 p. 408]</ref> Together with the jade art that precedes it, bronze was seen as a fine material for ritual art when compared with iron or stone.<ref>[[Wu Hung]] (1995). ''Monumentality in Early Chinese Art and Architecture''. pp. 11, 13 {{ISBN?}}</ref>

Bronze metallurgy in China originated in what is referred to as the [[Erlitou]] period, which some historians argue places it within the Shang.<ref>Chang, K. C.: "Studies of Shang Archaeology", pp. 6–7, 1. Yale University Press, 1982.</ref> Others believe the Erlitou sites belong to the preceding [[Xia dynasty]].<ref>Chang, K. C.: "Studies of Shang Archaeology", p. 1. Yale University Press, 1982.</ref> The United States [[National Gallery of Art]] defines the Chinese Bronze Age as {{circa|2000|771&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E, a period that begins with the Erlitou culture and ends abruptly with the disintegration of [[Western Zhou]] rule.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Teaching Chinese Archaeology, Part Two |url=http://www.nga.gov/education/chinatp_pt2.shtm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213205159/http://www.nga.gov/education/chinatp_pt2.shtm |archive-date=13 February 2008 |access-date=24 September 2016 |publisher=Nga.gov}}</ref>

There is reason to believe that bronze work developed inside of China apart from outside influence.<ref>Li-Liu; The Chinese Neolithic, Cambridge University Press, 2005.
[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/shzh/hd_shzh.htm ''Shang and Zhou Dynasties: The Bronze Age of China'' Heilbrunn Timeline] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210074557/http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/shzh/hd_shzh.htm |date=10 February 2015}} Retrieved 13 May 2010</ref> However, the discovery of the Europoid [[Tarim mummies]] in Xinjiang has caused some archaeologists such as [[Johan Gunnar Andersson]], Jan Romgard, and An Zhimin to suggest a possible route of transmission from the West eastwards. According to An Zhimin, "It can be imagined that initially, bronze and iron technology took its rise in West Asia, first influenced the Xinjiang region, and then reached the Yellow River valley, providing external impetus for the rise of the Shang and Zhou civilizations." According to Jan Romgard, "bronze and iron tools seem to have traveled from west to east as well as the use of wheeled wagons and the domestication of the horse." There are also possible links to [[Seima-Turbino culture]], "a transcultural complex across northern Eurasia", the Eurasian steppe, and the Urals.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Jan |last=Romgard |year=2008 |title=Questions of Ancient Human Settlements in Xinjiang and the Early Silk Road Trade, with an Overview of the Silk Road Research Institutions and Scholars in Beijing, Gansu, and Xinjiang |url=http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp185_silk_road.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Sino-Platonic Papers |pages=30–32 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206060414/http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp185_silk_road.pdf |archive-date=6 February 2012 |access-date=21 May 2012 |number=185}}</ref> However, the oldest bronze objects found in China so far were discovered at the [[Majiayao]] site in [[Gansu]] rather than at [[Xinjiang]].<ref>{{Cite journal |year=2003 |title=A Discussion on Early Metals and the Origins of Bronze Casting in China |url=http://www.kaogu.cn/en/Chinese%20Archaeology/3/A%20Discussion%20on%20Early%20Metals%20and%20the%20Origins%20of%20Bronze%20Casting%20in%20China.pdf |journal=Chinese Archaeology |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=157–165 |doi=10.1515/char.2003.3.1.157 |s2cid=164920328 |surname=Bai |given=Yunxiang}}</ref>

The production of Erlitou represents the earliest large-scale metallurgy industry in the Central Plains of China. The influence of the Seima-Turbino metalworking tradition from the north is supported by a series of recent discoveries in China of many unique perforated spearheads with downward hooks and small loops on the same or opposite side of the socket, which could be associated with the Seima-Turbino visual vocabulary of southern Siberia. The metallurgical centres of northwestern China, especially the [[Qijia culture]] in Gansu and [[Longshan culture]] in [[Shaanxi]], played an intermediary role in this process.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Meicun Lin |date=2016-06-30 |title=Seima-Turbino Culture and the Proto-Silk Road |url=http://dlib.eastview.com/browse/doc/48032340 |journal=Chinese Cultural Relics |language=en |volume=3 |issue=1–002 |pages=241–262 |doi=10.21557/CCR.48032340 |issn=2330-5169}}</ref>

Iron use in China dates as early as the [[Zhou dynasty]] ({{circa|1046|lk=no}}{{snd}}256&nbsp;BCE), but remained minimal. Chinese literature authored during the 6th century&nbsp;BCE attests to knowledge of iron smelting, yet bronze continues to occupy the seat of significance in the archaeological and historical record for some time after this.<ref>Barnard, N. "Bronze Casting and Bronze Alloys in Ancient China", p.&nbsp;14. The Australian National University and Monumenta Serica, 1961.</ref> W. C. White argues that iron did not supplant bronze "at any period before the end of the Zhou dynasty (256&nbsp;BCE)" and that bronze vessels make up the majority of metal vessels through the [[Eastern Han period]], or to 221&nbsp;BCE.<ref>White, W. C. "Bronze Culture of Ancient China", p.&nbsp;208. University of Toronto Press, 1956.</ref><!-- It is unclear what White referred to: The former Han dynasty was 206–25 BCE, and the later Han dynasty ended in 220 AD. On iron, readers may prefer to refer to this newer book: Wagner, Donald B. Iron, and Steel in Ancient China. Leiden, Netherlands; New York: E.J. Brill, 1993. -->

The Chinese bronze artefacts generally are either utilitarian, like spear points or [[adze]] heads, or [[Chinese ritual bronzes|"ritual bronzes"]], which are more elaborate versions in precious materials of everyday vessels, as well as tools and weapons. Examples are the numerous large sacrificial tripods known as ''[[Ding (vessel)|dings]]''; there are many other distinct shapes. Surviving identified Chinese ritual bronzes tend to be highly decorated, often with the ''[[taotie]]'' motif, which involves stylised animal faces. These appear in three main motif types: those of demons, symbolic animals, and abstract symbols.<ref>{{Cite book |last=von Erdberg |first=Elizabeth |title=Ancient Chinese Bronzes: Terminology and Iconology |publisher=Siebenbad-Verlag |year=1993 |isbn=978-3877470633 |page=20}}</ref> Many large bronzes also bear [[Chinese bronze inscriptions|cast inscriptions]] that are the bulk of the surviving body of early [[Chinese writing]] and have helped historians and archaeologists piece together the history of China, especially during the Zhou dynasty.

The bronzes of the Western Zhou document large portions of history not found in the extant texts that were often composed by persons of varying rank and possibly even social class. Further, the medium of cast bronze lends the record they preserve a permanence not enjoyed by manuscripts.<ref>Shaughnessy, E. L. "Sources of Western Zhou History", pp. xv–xvi. University of California Press, 1982.</ref> These inscriptions can commonly be subdivided into four parts: a reference to the date and place, the naming of the event commemorated, the list of gifts given to the artisan in exchange for the bronze, and a dedication.<ref>Shaughnessy, E. L. "Sources of Western Zhou History", pp. 76–83. University of California Press, 1982.</ref> The relative points of reference these vessels provide have enabled historians to place most of the vessels within a certain time frame of the Western Zhou period, allowing them to trace the evolution of the vessels and the events they record.<ref>Shaughnessy, E. L. "Sources of Western Zhou History", p. 107.</ref>