Scientific Res. Field of Ancient Asian Metallurgy

This book covers the latest research in the field of ancient Asian metal-working in South and Southeast Asia, China and West Asia, concentrating mainly on copper alloys. The papers presented in this volume are authored by leading international experts in archaeometallurgy who gathered in Washington D.C. to celebrate one of the Freer Gallery’s earliest technical research topics – the study of ancient Chinese bronzes and other copper-alloy metalwork from Asia. Early casting techniques and technical studies of bronzes in China, Thailand and Vietnam are joined by investigations into ten millennia of metallurgy in the Middle East. Contents:
Introduction Reflections on R. J. Gettens and the Technical Studies of Chinese Bronzes:
A Chemist Under a Spell: Rutherford John Gettens s Early Encounters with Chinese Bronzes Francesca G. BEWER; The Making of Volume 2 of the Freer Chinese Bronze Book W. T. CHASE; Theories and Observations: Still Looking at the Freer Bronzes
Robert BAGLEY Chinese Bronzes:
Recent Research on Early Bronze Metallurgy in Northwest China MEI Jianjun, XU Jianwei, CHEN Kunlong, SHEN Lu, and WANG Hui; Recent Discoveries Concerning Metallurgy in Bronze Age Yunnan JIN Zhengyao, LI Gong, WANG Haigang, TIAN Jianhua, YAN Lifeng, and JIANG Zhilong Some Decorative Techniques and Corrosion on Chinese Bronze Mirrors in the Cotsen Collection David A. SCOTT; Technical Studies of Three Gui Vessels of the Early Western Zhou Period in the British Museum Collection WANG Quanyu; An Enlightened Journey: Transitions in Casting of Chinese Buddhist Images Donna STRAHAN Southeast Asian Bronzes:
Looking East: The Coming of Tin Bronze in the Context of Bronze Age Trans-Eurasian Exchange – An Overview Vincent C. PIGOTT; The High-tin Bronzes of Thailand Ian GLOVER and Anna BENNETT; A Flux that Binds? The Southeast Asian Lead Isotope Project Thomas Oliver PRYCE; Khmer Bronze Metallurgy during the Angkorian Period (Twelfth to Thirteenth Centuries): Technical Investigation of a New Selected Corpus of Artifacts from the National Museum of Cambodia, Phnom Penh Brice VINCENT, David BOURGARIT, and Paul JETT; Casting of Ancient Drums in North Vietnam TRINH Sinh. West Asian Copper Alloys:
Ten Millennia of Metallurgy in Western Asia Paul T. CRADDOCK; Copper-Zinc Alloys at Nuzi: Dilemmas from an Early Excavation Katherine EREMIN, Susanna KIRK, Andrew SHORTLAND and Megan RICHTERS; Reconstructing Ancient Technologies: Chalcolithic Crucible Smelting at Tal-i Iblis, Iran Lesley D. FRAME; Metallurgy during the Middle Chalcolithic Period in the Southern Caucasus: Insight through Recent Discoveries at Mentesh-Tepe, Azerbaijan Antoine COURCIER, Farhad GULIYEV and Bertille LYONNET; The Casting Techniques of Antique South Arabian Large Bronze Statues Benoît MILLE; Medieval Islamic Copper Alloys Susan LA NIECE, Rachel WARD, Duncan HOOK and Paul CRADDOCK.