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Studies in the History of Natural Sciences  2021, Vol. 40 Issue (2): 135-148    DOI:
ARTICLES     
Smelting Copper with Lead Slag: The Smelting Technology of Lead-Copper Ores from the Chengui Mine in the Qing Dynasty
ZHOU Wenli1, LUO Shengqiang2, MO Lingheng3, CHEN Jianli4
1. Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, CAS, Beijing 100190, China;
2. Chenzhou Museum, Chenzhou 423000, China;
3. Hunan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Changsha 410008, China;
4. School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
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Abstract  The Chengui Mine (郴桂矿厂) was the most important source of copper, lead, zinc and other mint materials in Hunan (湖南) during the Qing Dynasty. A lead-copper smelting technology was used at the mine that involved first smelting lead and then copper, which is called smelting copper with lead slag in historical records. In 2016, smelting remains were excavated at the Tongmuling (桐木岭) site in Guiyang (桂阳), which provided important physical evidence for the reconstruction of the technology used at the Chengui Mine. Based on historical records, lead smelting remains at Tongmuling, and analysis of lead smelting slag, it is found that the Chengui Mine used the iron reduction method to smelt lead in a shaft furnace, then separated the matte and lead, and finally smelted copper from the matte. This complicated technology, different from other copper-lead smelting technologies, is a combination of the iron reduction method for lead smelting and copper smelting with matte. It is a technology unique to the Chengui Mine in the Qing Dynasty, and this is its first discovery in the history of metallurgy. The emergence of this technology resulted from the fact that copper resources at the Chengui Mine were scarce, but needed to meet the demand for copper for minting.

Key words： Qing Dynasty      Chengui Mine (郴桂矿厂)      smelting copper with lead slag      lead-copper smelting technology     
Received: 07 August 2020      Published: 27 January 2022
ZTFLH:  N092  
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ZHOU Wenli
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ZHOU Wenli, LUO Shengqiang, MO Lingheng, CHEN Jianli. Smelting Copper with Lead Slag: The Smelting Technology of Lead-Copper Ores from the Chengui Mine in the Qing Dynasty. Studies in the History of Natural Sciences, 2021, 40(2): 135-148.

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http://www.shns.ac.cn/     OR     http://www.shns.ac.cn/Y2021/V40/I2/135

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