the pre-Bronze Age, metal shows in the sediments were very low, indicating natural slow leaching from the background mineralisation but no mining. Entering the Bronze Age metal shows in the sediments increased significantly, suggesting the start of organised mining of copper, nickel and lead, a sure indication that metallic items including bronze were being manufactured by the ancient Chinese.
The period from around 500 BC to 200 BC was one of conflict within China, and the use of copper and lead increased significantly indicating an upsurge in weapons manufacturing. During the Han Dynasty there was strong growth in agriculture, which led to an increase in the use of iron tools, and this continued through until 200 AD. Also during this period, ceramics and iron began to replace bronze as the raw materials for domestic vessels and tools.
Mining at other sites
Another significant copper mining and smelting site was found at Tongling in Jiangxi Province, which carbon dating places in the middle period of the Shang Dynasty around the 14th century BC. Jiangxi abuts Hubei and also Anhui Province, where further 1st millennium BC copper activities have been uncovered at the Muyushan site. This whole area in the east of China, south of Beijing, clearly has a long history of mining and this continues to this day.
In the period of the Shang Dynasty there was a significant and advanced civilisation in the north of China not far from the last Shang capital of Anyang. Here archaeological work has uncovered the remains of a bronze foundry and furnace; records of the supplying mines were also found, some close to Anyang and none more than 200 miles away. All this points to a relatively sophisticated civilisation, not dissimilar from those of Asia Minor, and one with considerable skills in mining and the working of metals.
Copper and bronze artefacts dating back to the 1st millennium BC have also been found in Xinjiang Province in the far north west of China on the border with Kazakhastan. Much of the evidence of mining, smelting and manufacturing, as we have and will continue to find, comes from the artefacts and metal slag uncovered during archaeological digs. Some of the finds in Xinjiang, due to its proximity to Kazakhstan, have led to speculation that there may have been interaction in terms of trade between China and the Near East. As a consequence of this we cannot be sure of the provenance of the technology that led to the establishment of mining and metallurgy in regions like Xinjiang, which lie on ancient trade routes.
There is evidence of iron mines in the north of China and a number of 1st millennium BC iron ore smelting sites have been uncovered. The process used in those days would almost certainly have led to the production of wrought iron and later, as Chinese technology advanced and higher smelting temperatures were attained, cast iron. The source of the iron ore would have been a combination of meteoritic iron and surface ores. The essential requirement was that the iron ore deposit would have been relatively high grade, as there tended to be a considerable loss of dross metal in the early smelting process. In the 1st century BC ironworks unearthed in Henan Province also pointed to coal mining activity in the region, with coal being used in the works but probably not in the smelting process, as coal only supplanted charcoal in the process in 7th century AD.
The progress made in iron working in China over the centuries allowed local engineers to develop sophisticated techniques in a variety of areas, one example being the building of bridges. To begin with the first bridges were more like pontoons than bridges as we understand them, and this meant that crossings were of rivers rather than aerial gaps. It is, however, thought that around 600 AD Chinese engineers may have built the first cast iron chain suspension bridge in Yunnan province, although some historians think that the first iron chain suspension bridge could well have been constructed even earlier.
The table summarises some of the more significant Chinese metal developments in the ancient period.
Significant historical Chinese metal developments
5. Early Mining in India
One of the interesting aspects of mining in India is the relatively early use of zinc, which meant that brass for coins, sculptures, images and other objects was being used quite widely before other ancient societies such as China and Greece made brass. Indeed, some Indian brass objects found have been dated as early as the 3rd century BC. One of the best-preserved zinc mining sites in India is Zawar in Rajasthan in Western India. There, shafts were found down to a depth of 300 feet and wooden residues indicate the use of ladders, supports and drainage conduits in the operations. The workings are thought to date back to the latter half of the 1st millennium BC and were linked to an advanced system of zinc smelting involving retorts and furnaces which produced a zinc vapour, which was then collected in vessels and condensed, leaving behind the contained zinc metal.
India’s historic mining and metallurgical expertise in copper, tin and thus bronze goes back even further to at least the 4th millennium BC. The ancient workings of Khetri and Rajpura-Dariba in the north west of the country demonstrate that sophisticated copper mining and smelting operations existed in ancient India. It is believed though that the tin used to make bronze did not come from the region itself but possibly from the centre of the country, or perhaps was imported from the rich tin areas of Malaya or Indonesia. It is thought that Indian expertise in copper may well have been introduced from Persia, and in support of this theory many copper and bronze articles have been found in the east of modern day Iran, in the north west of India and some in the south west of Afghanistan. Indeed, archaeological evidence indicates that there was a metal working site at Mundigak in Afghanistan and that techniques developed there, or perhaps developed further west, travelled down to the Indus Valley during the 3rd millennium BC.
The earliest bronze artefacts in India were found in the north west of the country in the Indus River Valley; these were largely weapons like knives and spears but also tools like axes and domestic items such as mirrors. In this we can see that technological progress was slow as the Bronze Age spread round the known world, so for thousands of years bronze technology was aimed primarily at manufacturing equipment for war. The artefacts are the clearest sign of a copper mining, alloying and smelting industry in this part of India, with remains of the ancient operations rather limited after so many centuries. It is therefore difficult to ascertain the likely levels of production of copper, but it would be a reasonable guess that annual output would have been in the hundreds of tonnes rather than anything more. Certainly in recent times a small-scale basic copper mining industry has operated in the Indus Valley area producing modest amounts of copper and this may well mirror the scale of the ancient mining. So the presence of small-scale copper mining today provides a link with much earlier operations in the Indus Valley.
Gold mining in the state of Karnataka, south west India, was carried out around the end of the 1st century BC where evidence of fire setting techniques from that era has been found at the operating Hutti gold mine, as well as evidence of charcoal for smelting and also gold residues. At about the same time – the end of the 1st century BC – a gold mine was established at Uti, near to Hutti. Around the 3rd century AD a number of small pits were dug to extract surface gold in Karnataka at Kolar and by the 9th century AD a larger operation had been developed there. Also in Karnataka state, the now-closed Ingaldhal copper mine in the Chitradurga district was first worked around the time of the establishment of the Hutti gold mine.
6. Mining in Ancient Egypt
The very essence of modern Egypt to outsiders and visitors is its fabulous ancient cities and monuments, and the treasures that were found in the country’s most famous ancient structures, the Pyramids. These great antiquities have fascinated people for centuries and have led to much controversy as many of the priceless artefacts uncovered by archaeological expeditions, often foreign, have found their way outside Egypt. There are a number of different points of view
