704·The Bronze Age sic,which was important to the Chinese of that time,was a means to communicate with their forefathers,who gave them life and wealth.Music from bells and drums was not a form of enter- tainment but a ceremonial feast for and with their ancestors.It is still a mystery how the Chinese of the fifth century B.C.were able to cast two-tone bells.The bronze bells of the Marqui Yi weigh about 2500 kg,they are nicely decorated,and must have represented a large portion,if not all,of the wealth of their owner. It is believed today that China developed its bronze technology only slightly later than the West and independently from the out- side world.It grew,as in the West,out of the ceramic tradition. Chinese potters achieved kiln temperatures as high as 1400C which allowed them to produce their unique porcelain.In con- trast to Thailand,China briefly went through an initial copper smelting period (at around 2000 B.C.).But arsenic-bronzes seem to be absent in China.Furthermore,two types of bronzes were developed,one consisting of the usual copper-tin alloy and the other of copper with lead.Also interesting is a find of a piece of brass(copper-zinc),dating back to about 2200-2000 B.C.,which was probably smelted from zinc-bearing copper ore. As outlined above,both the Chinese and the Thais possessed ample copper as well as tin raw materials.This was definitely not true for the Chalcolithic man residing in the Near East.Ma- jor bronze-producing centers in 2000 B.C.were in Mesopotamia,! Assyria,Anatolia,and Cyprus.2.3 All of these centers were blessed with abundant deposits of copper ore,as described in Chapter 1. However,no tin seemed to have been found in the vicinity of these places.As a matter of fact,the major tin deposits as known today are in China,Thailand,Malaysia,England,Germany,Nige- ria,Zaire,Australia,Bolivia,and Mexico.They consist of tin ox- ide,or cassiterite (see Plate 4.1),which is inserted into granite in the form of veins.Cassiterite4 is broken down by water and washed into rivers where it can be panned like gold.Minor de- posits were possibly in Italy,Spain,France(at the mouth of the river Loire)and Sardinia. In short,reputed archaeological evidence seems to point to the fact that,during the Chalcolithic time,no major known tin sources were situated in the Near East except possibly for some Mesopotamia once lay between the lower Tigris and lower Euphrates rivers and is today part of Iraq.(From Greek:mesos middle and po- tomos river. 2Kypros (Greek)=copper. 3Aes cyprium (Latin)=copper;aes (Latin)=ore. Kassiteros (Greek)=tin.sic, which was important to the Chinese of that time, was a means to communicate with their forefathers, who gave them life and wealth. Music from bells and drums was not a form of enter￾tainment but a ceremonial feast for and with their ancestors. It is still a mystery how the Chinese of the fifth century B.C. were able to cast two-tone bells. The bronze bells of the Marqui Yi weigh about 2500 kg, they are nicely decorated, and must have represented a large portion, if not all, of the wealth of their owner. It is believed today that China developed its bronze technology only slightly later than the West and independently from the out￾side world. It grew, as in the West, out of the ceramic tradition. Chinese potters achieved kiln temperatures as high as 1400°C which allowed them to produce their unique porcelain. In con￾trast to Thailand, China briefly went through an initial copper smelting period (at around 2000 B.C.). But arsenic–bronzes seem to be absent in China. Furthermore, two types of bronzes were developed, one consisting of the usual copper–tin alloy and the other of copper with lead. Also interesting is a find of a piece of brass (copper–zinc), dating back to about 2200–2000 B.C., which was probably smelted from zinc-bearing copper ore. As outlined above, both the Chinese and the Thais possessed ample copper as well as tin raw materials. This was definitely not true for the Chalcolithic man residing in the Near East. Ma￾jor bronze-producing centers in 2000 B.C. were in Mesopotamia,1 Assyria, Anatolia, and Cyprus.2,3 All of these centers were blessed with abundant deposits of copper ore, as described in Chapter 1. However, no tin seemed to have been found in the vicinity of these places. As a matter of fact, the major tin deposits as known today are in China, Thailand, Malaysia, England, Germany, Nige￾ria, Zaire, Australia, Bolivia, and Mexico. They consist of tin ox￾ide, or cassiterite (see Plate 4.1), which is inserted into granite in the form of veins. Cassiterite4 is broken down by water and washed into rivers where it can be panned like gold. Minor de￾posits were possibly in Italy, Spain, France (at the mouth of the river Loire) and Sardinia. In short, reputed archaeological evidence seems to point to the fact that, during the Chalcolithic time, no major known tin sources were situated in the Near East except possibly for some 70 4 • The Bronze Age 1Mesopotamia once lay between the lower Tigris and lower Euphrates rivers and is today part of Iraq. (From Greek: mesos
middle and po￾tomos
river.) 2Kypros (Greek)
copper. 3Aes cyprium (Latin)
copper; aes (Latin)
ore. 4Kassiteros (Greek)
tin