The background of bronzes.

The background of bronze ware is the development of the times and the needs of life.

In the early days of human civilization, due to the immaturity of handicraft technology, people could only get tools by polishing stones. Although people have made great innovations under difficult conditions, the cumbersome and inaccurate characteristics of stone tools still limit the development of ancient productive forces.

Later, with the development of production technology, people used fire more and more maturely. Besides firing pottery, people can also carry out simple metal smelting. The metal that people first smelted and used in tool making was copper. However, most of the Neolithic bronzes are made of copper, which is very strong and not suitable for production tools.

In later production and life, the ancients found that adding minerals rich in other metals can effectively change the properties of copper when smelting red copper, and bronze was produced during this period.

History of bronze ware development:

Bronzes were called "gold" or "auspicious gold" in ancient times. It is an alloy of copper and other chemical elements such as tin and lead. The bronze that has just been cast is golden, but it is called bronze because the unearthed bronze has become turquoise after corrosion due to time loss.

At present, the popular saying (doubtful) is that the use of bronzes began in Turkey and Iraq in the late Neolithic period, and copper beads were unearthed at TellRamad site in ancient Syria. According to the current archaeological achievements in China, Chinese bronzes began from Majiayao to Qin and Han Dynasties, among which the Shang and Zhou Dynasties were the most exquisite. Appeared in the early Yangshao culture and Majiayao culture in China.

Gadgets or decorations first appeared in China. There were bronze containers and weapons in the Xia Dynasty. In the middle of Shang Dynasty, the varieties of bronzes were very rich, with inscriptions and exquisite patterns. From the late Shang Dynasty to the early Western Zhou Dynasty, it was the heyday of bronze ware development, with diverse shapes, rich inscriptions and rich patterns.

Subsequently, the bronze matrix began to thin, and the decorative pattern gradually simplified. From the late Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, due to the popularization and use of iron tools, copper tools became less and less. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, with pottery and lacquerware entering daily life, the variety of copper containers decreased, the decoration was simple, mostly plain, and the carcass was light.

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