The Critical Node of the Transmission of Iron and Steel Technology on the Silk Road in the Han Dynasty: Study on the Iron artifacts from the Han Dynasty Tombs in Xingfucheng, Guyuan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Northwest China, ca. 202 BC-141 BC

Abstract

Abstract In the past few decades, many iron artifacts have been excavated in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, which was the critical node that connected the Eastern and Western civilizations on the ancient Silk Road. However, the exploration into the iron and steel metallurgy technology prevalent in Ningxia during that period has been inadequate. In this paper, metallurgical analysis has been conducted on the iron artifacts excavated from the tombs of the early Western Han Dynasty (202-141BC) in Xingfucheng (XFC), Guyuan, Ningxia. Results show that weapons and farming implements were made of decarburized steel and Chaogang. Furthermore, there is evidence of the use of surface carburizing and quenching technologies to control the performance of the iron. In addition, this research also uncovered the utilization of carburized bloomery steel. The iron objects excavated in XFC show traits of bloomery smelting technology from Europe, and Asia, in addition to the steel making techniques found in the Central Plains. Hence, it can be concluded that the iron and steel smelting technology developed in XFC is a result of the confluence of Eastern and Western technologies. The trend of replacing bloomery smelting technology with cast iron appeared in the early Western Han Dynasty, which establishes that Ningxia played an important role in the exchange of ancient metallurgical technology between the East and the West, thus filling the gap of iron archaeometallurgy in Ningxia after the 2nd century BC.