Regional Bronze Industries and Interrgional Interaction: The Emergence and Development of the Regional Bronze-using Culture in the Hanzhong Basin

More than six hundred bronzes which can safely be dated to the Shang period have been reported found in Yang Xian and Chenggu, Shaanxi, China since 1960s. Despite of the fact that most of these bronzes were randomly found, they represent the key evidence to understand the history of Hanzhong Basin in the Shang period. In fact, they were the only evidence before the first archaeological site of the Shang period was published in 2002. This thesis mainly discusses the following two aspects of the Hanzhong bronzes, the sequence of the bronzes and the sources of the bronzes. The bronzes are classified into three periods to illustrate changes of bronze assemblage. The thesis adopts the ritual approach, viewing ritual as performance, to analyze the ritual practices of these bronzes. The changes of assemblage reflect the changes of participants, or the differences of the way in which they participant ritual activities The thesis also uses newly-published component analysis data and casting techniques analysis report to discuss local features of composition and casting techniques. Besides influenced by Shang central areas, the analysis suggests bronze-using culture in the Hanzhong Basin was also strongly influenced by two regional bronze-using cultures from the middle Yangtze river region and the Weihe River Basin. The discussion of the bronze-using culture in the Hanzhong Basin reflects that a more complicated interregional interaction should replace the traditional unidirectional interpretive framework.