Two bronze artifacts unearthed at the Gouwan site in central China’s Henan province have been dated to roughly 4,500 years ago, making them the oldest known bronze objects ever found in the Yangtze River Basin.
Researchers said the discovery pushes the timeline of metalworking in the region back to the late Qujialing culture and provides fresh evidence for understanding the multiple regional origins of early Chinese metallurgy.
The findings were published online in the international journal Archaeological Research in Asia, according to a Wednesday report by the Global Times.
Both bronze items were recovered from cultural layers associated with the late Qujialing period.
One object is a bronze piece shaped like an arrowhead and closely resembles stone arrowheads from the same era. The second discovery is a rod-like bronze fragment with a cylindrical form and casting pores visible on its surface.
Metallographic and elemental analyses showed that both objects were cast from a copper-tin-lead ternary alloy. Researchers said the high impurity levels indicate the use of polymetallic co-occurring ore, reflecting an early and relatively rudimentary stage of metallurgical technology.
