Cast iron coins of Song dynasty China: a metallurgical study
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Published
Jan 1, 2022
Abstract
A selection of 37 Song dynasty Chinese cast iron coins was subjected to metallurgical analysis. From inscriptions, these are dated between 1078 and 1215 AD, and the mint locations of 23 of the coins are known. All were found to be white cast irons, but they separated into two types, one with relatively high levels of silicon, phosphorus and sulphur and divorced eutectic microstructures, and the other with low levels of these three elements and ledeburitic microstructures. Those coins that were minted in Shaanxi were all found to be of the first type, while those minted in the Hubei/Anhui region to the southeast are all of the second type. On the basis of sulphur content it is believed to be likely that iron used for the first group was smelted in coal- or coke-fired blast furnaces, while the iron in the second group was smelted using charcoal. This is in general agreement with what is known of the iron industry in China during the Song period.
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References
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Von Glahn R 1996, Fountain of fortune: money and monetary policy in China, 1000–1700 (Berkeley).
Wagner D B 1989, Toward the reconstruction of ancient Chinese techniques for the production of malleable cast iron (Copenhagen: East Asian Institute Occasional Paper 4).
Wagner D B 1993, Iron and steel in ancient China (Leiden).
Wagner D B 1999, ‘The earliest use of iron in China’, in S M M Young, A M Pollard, P Budd and R A Ixer (eds), Metals in Antiquity (Oxford: BAR International Series 792), 1–9.
Wagner D B 2000, ‘Chinese monumental iron castings’, Journal of East Asian Archaeology 2(3/4), 199–224.
Wagner D B 2001, ‘Blast furnaces in Song/Yuan China’, East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine, 18, 41–74. See also pp 25–37 below.
Wang Shengduo 1998, ‘Shaanxi zhuqianjian kao’ [The mints of Shaanxi], Zhongguo Qianbi [China Numismatics] 1998/1, 1–8.
Wayman M L Lang J and Michaelson C forthcoming, The metallurgy of cast iron statuary.
Williams, J (ed) 1997, Money a history (London).
Yan Fushan (ed) 2001, Liang Song tie qian [Iron coinage of the Northern and Southern Song] (Xi’an).
Yang Lien-sheng 1952, Money and credit in China: A short history (Cambridge, Mass): Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph series 12).
Zhou Weirong 1999, ‘Shilun woguo gudai tieqian de qiyuan [On the origins of iron coinage in ancient China]’, Zhongguo Qianbi [China Numismatics] 1999/1, 22–26.
Bronson B 1999, ‘The transition to iron in ancient China’, in V C Pigott (ed), The archaeometallurgy of the Asian Old World (Philadelphia: MASCA Research Papers in Science and
Archaeology 16), 177–193.
Burger W 1976, Ching cash until 1735 (Taipei).
Chen Hao 2002, ‘Jiangbei tieqian jian ruogan wenti tansuo’ [On the iron coin mints of the Jiangbei region], Zhongguo Qianbi [China Numismatics] 2002/1, 11–16.
Craddock P T, Wayman M L and Jull T In press, ‘The radiocarbon dating and authentication of iron artefacts’, Radiocarbon
Evrard R and Descy A 1948, Histoire de l’Usine des Vennes (Liège) [as referenced in Rostoker and Bronson 1990].
Golas P J 1999, ‘Mining’, in J Needham (ed), Science and Civilization in China 5(XIII) (Cambridge).
Han Rubin 1996, ‘The development of Chinese ancient iron blast furnace’, Forum for the 4th International Conference on the Beginning of the Use of Metals and Alloys (BUMA-IV) (Shimane, Japan), 151–174.
Hansen M and Anderko K, 1958 Constitution of Binary Alloys (New York).
Hartwell R 1962, ‘A revolution in the Chinese iron and coal industries during the Northern Sung, 960–1126 AD’, Journal of Asian Studies 21, 153-162.
Hartwell R 1963, Iron and early industrialism in eleventh-century China. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Chicago [as referenced by Wagner (2001)].
Hartwell R 1966, ‘Markets, technology and the structure of enterprise in the development of 11th century Chinese iron and steel industry’, Journal of Economic History 26(1), 29–58.
Hartwell R 1967a, ‘The evolution of the early Northern Sung monetary system, AD 960–1025’, Journal of the American Oriental Society 87, 280–289.
Hartwell R 1967b, ‘A cycle of economic change in imperial China: Coal and iron in northeast China 750-1350’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 10, 102–159.
Henger G W 1970, ‘The metallography and chemical analysis of iron-base samples dating from antiquity to modern times’, Historical Metallurgy 4(2), 45–52; erratum 1971, 5(1), 11.
Hua Jue-ming, 1983, ‘The mass production of iron castings in ancient China’, Scientific American 248, 107–114.
Jin Xiaochun, Jiang Yonghu, Cheng Jianzhong and Yang Jianxin 2000, ‘Anhui Huaining Shankou zhencun zhuqian yizhi ji Tong’an jian zhi kaocha’ [An investigation of the Tong’an mint site at Shankou zhencun, Huaining, Anhui province] , Zhongguo Qianbi [China Numismatics] 2000/3, 44–45.
Li Jinghua 1996, ‘The excavation and study of iron smelting sites in Henan of Han dynasty, China’, Bulletin of the Metals Museum 25, 14–35.
Liu Sen, 1997, Zhongguo tie qian [Iron coinage in China] (Beijing).
Peng Xinwei 1965, Zhongguo Huobi Shi. Published in 1984 as E H Kaplan (trans), A monetary history of China, vol 1 (Western Washington University: East Asian Research Aids and Translations 5).
Pfannenschmidt C W 1977, Die Anwendung des Holzkohlenhochofens Seit ende des 16 Jahrhunderts zur Erzeugung von Gusswaren Erster Schmeltzung und die Spatere
Zweite Schmelzung in Flamm-und Kupolofen Bis Mitte des 19 Jahrhunderts (Dusseldorf: Verein Deutscher Eisenhuttenleute Fachausschussbericht 9.007) [as referenced in Rostoker and Bronson 1990].
Pinel M L, Read T T and Wright T A 1938, ‘Composition and microstructure of ancient iron castings’, Transactions of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers 131, 174–94.
Qui Shihua and Cai Lianzhen 1986, ‘Woguo gudai yetie ranliao de tan-shisi jianding’ [use of radiocarbon dating to determine the fuel used in ancient Chinese iron-smelting], in Wang Zhongshu and An Zhimin (eds), Zhongguo kaoguxue yanjiu (Beijing), 359–63.
Read T T 1939–40, ‘The earliest industrial use of coal’, Transactionsof the Newcomen Society 20, 119–33.
Rehder J E 1987, ‘The change from charcoal to coke in iron smelting’, Historical Metallurgy 21, 37–43.
Rostoker W 1986, ‘Troubles with cast iron cannon’, Archeomaterials 1, 69–90.
Rostoker W Bronson B, Dvorak J and Shen G 1983, ‘Casting farm implements, comparable tools and hardware in ancient China’, World Archaeology 15(2), 196–210.
Rostoker W, Bronson B and Dvorak J 1984, ‘The cast iron bells of China’, Technology and Culture 25, 750–67.
Rostoker W and Bronson B 1990, Pre-industrial iron (Philadelphia: Archeomaterials monograph 1).
Till B and Swart P 1993, ‘Cast iron statuary of China’, Orientations (August 1993), 40–45.
Tylecote R F 1976, A History of Metallurgy (London).
Tylecote R F 1991, ‘Iron in the Industrial Revolution’, in J Day and R F Tylecote (eds), The Industrial Revolution in Metals (London).
Unglik H 1990, Cast irons from Les Forges du Saint-Maurice, Quebec: A metallurgical study (Ottawa: Studies in Archaeology, Architecture and History, National Historic Parks and Sites).
Von Glahn R 1996, Fountain of fortune: money and monetary policy in China, 1000–1700 (Berkeley).
Wagner D B 1989, Toward the reconstruction of ancient Chinese techniques for the production of malleable cast iron (Copenhagen: East Asian Institute Occasional Paper 4).
Wagner D B 1993, Iron and steel in ancient China (Leiden).
Wagner D B 1999, ‘The earliest use of iron in China’, in S M M Young, A M Pollard, P Budd and R A Ixer (eds), Metals in Antiquity (Oxford: BAR International Series 792), 1–9.
Wagner D B 2000, ‘Chinese monumental iron castings’, Journal of East Asian Archaeology 2(3/4), 199–224.
Wagner D B 2001, ‘Blast furnaces in Song/Yuan China’, East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine, 18, 41–74. See also pp 25–37 below.
Wang Shengduo 1998, ‘Shaanxi zhuqianjian kao’ [The mints of Shaanxi], Zhongguo Qianbi [China Numismatics] 1998/1, 1–8.
Wayman M L Lang J and Michaelson C forthcoming, The metallurgy of cast iron statuary.
Williams, J (ed) 1997, Money a history (London).
Yan Fushan (ed) 2001, Liang Song tie qian [Iron coinage of the Northern and Southern Song] (Xi’an).
Yang Lien-sheng 1952, Money and credit in China: A short history (Cambridge, Mass): Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph series 12).
Zhou Weirong 1999, ‘Shilun woguo gudai tieqian de qiyuan [On the origins of iron coinage in ancient China]’, Zhongguo Qianbi [China Numismatics] 1999/1, 22–26.
How to Cite
Cast iron coins of Song dynasty China: a metallurgical study. (2022). Historical Metallurgy, 37(1), 6-24. https://hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/258
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How to Cite
Cast iron coins of Song dynasty China: a metallurgical study. (2022). Historical Metallurgy, 37(1), 6-24. https://hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/258