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In China, early tin was extracted along the Yellow River in Erlitou and Shang times between 2500 and 1800 BC. By Han and later times, China imported its tin from what is today Yunnan province. This has remained China's main source of tin throughout history and into modern times. [49]
Tin mining began early in the Bronze Age, as bronze is a copper-tin alloy. Tin is a relatively rare element in the Earth's crust, with approximately 2 ppm (parts per million), compared to iron with 50,000 ppm.
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids, such as arsenic or silicon.
A study in the journal Antiquity from 2013 reporting the discovery of a tin bronze foil from the Pločnik archaeological site dated to c. 4,650 BC, as well as 14 other artefacts from Bulgaria and Serbia dated to before 4,000 BC, showed that early tin bronze was more common than previously thought and developed independently in Europe 1,500 ...
Bronze knife found in Dongxiang, Gansu (dated 2900–2740 BC), Majiayao culture Bronze spearhead with inscription, Zhou dynasty. Bronze technology was imported to China from the steppes. [12] The oldest bronze object found in China was a knife found at a Majiayao culture site in Dongxiang, Gansu, and dated to 2900–2740 BC. [13]
Tin was first smelted in combination with copper around 3500 BC to produce bronze - and thus giving place to the Bronze Age (except in some places which did not experience a significant Bronze Age, passing directly from the Neolithic Stone Age to the Iron Age). [18]
Gold, silver and bronze or copper were the principal coinage metals of the ancient world, the medieval period and into the late modern period when the diversity of coinage metals increased. Coins are often made from more than one metal, either using alloys, coatings ( cladding / plating ) or bimetallic configurations.
The origin of the ores or metals used for Shang and other early Chinese bronze is a current (2018) topic of research. As with other early civilisations (Egypt, Mesopotamia, Indus), Shang settlement was centered on river valleys, and driven in part by the introduction of intensive agriculture.