{"title":"Characterization of black filling in cast designs of Shang dynasty Chinese bronzes","authors":"Donna K. Strahan, Blythe McCarthy","doi":"10.1016/j.ara.2025.100602","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper reports on the formation of intentional black fillings in design areas of ancient Chinese bronzes. The black filling in the design channels contrasts with the golden color of the freshly cast bronze. Silicate grains in the cast design channels that appear similar to processed loess used for casting molds formed a base for applying black filling materials. Using Py-GCMS, the major organic component found was composed of fatty acids including azelaic acid, suggesting that a drying oil was used. In addition, evidence of soot and possibly Anacardiaceae lacquer were found.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51847,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Research in Asia","volume":"42 ","pages":"Article 100602"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Archaeological Research in Asia","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352226725000121","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"ARCHAEOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper reports on the formation of intentional black fillings in design areas of ancient Chinese bronzes. The black filling in the design channels contrasts with the golden color of the freshly cast bronze. Silicate grains in the cast design channels that appear similar to processed loess used for casting molds formed a base for applying black filling materials. Using Py-GCMS, the major organic component found was composed of fatty acids including azelaic acid, suggesting that a drying oil was used. In addition, evidence of soot and possibly Anacardiaceae lacquer were found.
期刊介绍:
Archaeological Research in Asia presents high quality scholarly research conducted in between the Bosporus and the Pacific on a broad range of archaeological subjects of importance to audiences across Asia and around the world. The journal covers the traditional components of archaeology: placing events and patterns in time and space; analysis of past lifeways; and explanations for cultural processes and change. To this end, the publication will highlight theoretical and methodological advances in studying the past, present new data, and detail patterns that reshape our understanding of it. Archaeological Research in Asia publishes work on the full temporal range of archaeological inquiry from the earliest human presence in Asia with a special emphasis on time periods under-represented in other venues. Journal contributions are of three kinds: articles, case reports and short communications. Full length articles should present synthetic treatments, novel analyses, or theoretical approaches to unresolved issues. Case reports present basic data on subjects that are of broad interest because they represent key sites, sequences, and subjects that figure prominently, or should figure prominently, in how scholars both inside and outside Asia understand the archaeology of cultural and biological change through time. Short communications present new findings (e.g., radiocarbon dates) that are important to the extent that they reaffirm or change the way scholars in Asia and around the world think about Asian cultural or biological history.