| Ref ID: | 22400 |
|---|---|
| Ref Type: | Book Section |
| Authors: | Quansheng Huang, Yanxiang Li, |
| Title: | A new discovery: manganese as a flux agent at the Song Dynasty [960-1279 A.D.] iron-smelting sites in Xingye County, Guangxi, China |
| Date: | 2015 |
| Source: | Metals and civilizations |
| Place of Publication: | Bangalore, India |
| Publisher: | National Institute of Advanced Studies |
| Notes: | Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on the Beginnings of the Use of Metals and Alloys (BUMA VII) |
| Abstract: | This paper offers a recent study on iron-smelting sites and slag of the Song dynasty found in Xingye County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, southern China. Archaeological fieldwork was conducted in Xingye County in November 2006 and August 2008. The ancient iron smelting sites are distributed through an area of about 20 km2 in the vicinity of Longan town. Ten iron smelting and casting sites were investigated. A dozen shaft furnaces and the bottom of one destroyed shaft furnace have been found, as well as a lot of slag heaps, broken <i>tuyère</i>, casting moulds and pottery. Pre-modern texts indicate the presence of such sites in the Southern Song dynasty, though local archaeologists consider that the sites started in the Tang dynasty. The patterns of pottery shards unearthed from the Gaoling site possibly belong to a much earlier period. Preliminarily analysis using SEM-EDS of 23 smelting slag samples collected from 4 sites are presented. It is noted that all the samples of slag are composed of MnO-SiO,sub>2</sub>. Analysis of the microstructure of the metallic droplets in the slag by metallographic microscopy shows that all were the product of cast iron smelting. This is the first time that the use of manganese as a flux agent in ancient cast iron smelting has been confirmed in China. The typology of the remains of straight-round-shaped tuyère indicates a shared tradition with earlier copper and iron-smelting finds in the Guangxi area, resembling closely those from South and Southeast Asian ancient iron-smelting ruins. |
| Date Created: | 4/11/2016 |
| Editors: | Srinivasam, Sharada Ranganathan, Srinivasa Giumlia-Mair, Alessandra |
| Page Start: | 87 |
| Page End: | 94 |