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> Lead isotope analysis of the bronze alloy provided indisputable evidence of the Chinese origin of the materials used in the statue. Is there some more detail
by jakub_g 2y ago
> Lead isotope analysis of the bronze alloy provided indisputable evidence of the Chinese origin of the materials used in the statue.
Is there some more detailed source explaining how this conclusion was reached? What's distinct about Chinese lead / how this kind of evaluations are done?
- ceejayoz 2y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotope_analysis_in_archaeology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotope_analysis_in_archaeolog... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_lead https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_lead
- wizzwizz4 2y agoThose links do not answer the question, separately or combined.
- ceejayoz 2y agoThey absolutely do answer the question.
- wizzwizz4 2y agoI should not have posted a comment that simply contradicted you. My bad. The first mentions lead once. The second does not mention any region of present-day China, as far as I can tell. I can't see the information there.
- ceejayoz 2y agoDifferent sources have different isotope proportions and amounts, permitting fingerprinting of region and sometimes specific mines. The first link explains how we use isotopes in this fashion. The second explains that lead has some useful ones.
- wizzwizz4 2y agoI have re-read the question, and this does answer the very last words of it.
- sct202 2y agoThis one is specific to Chinese lead isotopes. Many Chinese bronzes have elevated levels of radiogenic lead. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-30275-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-30275-2
- userbinator 2y agoHigh lead content? Made in China? What a surprise. /s
- Rebelgecko 2y agoI think they're looking for a study that was done on this particular item, not just info about isotopes in general There's some more info on the lion's measurements here, but I haven't been able to find the study that was presented in September https://journals.iucr.org/j/issues/2024/03/00/in5093/in5093.pdf https://journals.iucr.org/j/issues/2024/03/00/in5093/in5093....
- Isamu 2y agoThe original article translated from Italian puts it this way: >the results indicate that the colossal statue is most likely an elaborate reassembly of what was initially a zhènmùshòu (镇墓兽 "keeper of tombs") fused in the Tang period (609-907 AD) with copper from the mines of the lower basin of the Yang-tze River, the Blue River in southern China. This is confirmed by accurate analyses of lead isotopes, which leave in the bronze unmistakable traces of the original mines from which the copper was extracted. The implication is that the mines themselves have different isotope signatures that have been established in previous archaeological studies.
- potato3732842 2y agoI'm surprised they're using isotopes and not impurities for such a task.
- cameron_b 2y agoPerhaps based on time-mapping known regional mining activity
- Isamu 2y agoI believe these are impurities. This is talking about copper mines, producing the copper for the bronze casting. So they are looking for the signature lead impurities in that copper. They use isotope analysis to find the lead impurities in the copper.
- samus 2y agoIsotope ratios are very easy and reliable signals compared to impurities. Impurities can be all over the place depending on where the materials were mined. Impurities could have also been added inadvertently during the casting as well.