The ceramic technology of bronze-casting molds in ancient China : production practices at three western Zhou foundry sites in the Zhouyuan area

During the second and first millennia BCE, peoples living near China's Yellow and Yangzi Rivers produced bronze ritual and military paraphernalia that represent arguably the most sophisticated use of metal casting by any ancient society. These objects were cast by pouring bronze into mold assemblies composed of interlocking sections. To survive the mechanical and thermal rigors of this casting process, the mold sections were constructed from highly specialized ceramic materials. This study investigates these ceramic materials. The primary focus is three foundry sites (Zhougongmiao, Kongtougou, Lijia) in the Zhouyuan area, Shaanxi province, a major bronze production center during the Western Zhou period (1045-771 BCE). Casting molds (72 total), other ceramic artifacts, and soils, all from the Zhouyuan area, were analyzed using electron microscopy, optical microscopy, and infrared spectroscopy.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctoral

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Chastain, Matthew Lincoln.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Heather N. Lechtman.

• Materials Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122073

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/122073