Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T07:34:37.308Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Technological and Chronological Implication of 14C Concentrations in Carbon Samples Extracted from Mongolian Cast Iron Artifacts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2019

J S Park ,
W Honeychurch  and
A Chunag
J S Park*
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Hongik University, Jochiwon, Sejong 30016, Korea
W Honeychurch
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
A Chunag
Affiliation:
Institute of History and Archaeology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar 51, Mongolia
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Cast iron objects recovered primarily in eastern Mongolia, spanning the Xiongnu through the Early Historic periods (ca. 3rd BC–AD 17th century), were examined for their radiocarbon (14C) concentration and microstructure. Most of the samples examined were found to have originated from charcoal-based smelting with a few exceptions that were made using a mineral coal-based technique. A comparison of 14C dates with dates derived from artifact typology allowed the charcoal-smelted objects to be classified into two groups, based on whether the radiometric and typological periodization are in agreement or not. In addition, those with differing 14C and typological dates can be divided into two subgroups with and without evidence for a melt treatment applied after original casting. These conflicting dating results are confusing and would seem to provoke skepticism about the use of 14C measurements for dating iron artifacts. We demonstrate however that 14C analysis, when combined with metallographic examination and other lines of chronological evidence, can clarify the history of a given iron object and its multiple users, often separated in time by more than a millennium.

Keywords

cast ironMongoliaradiocarbonrecyclingXiongnu-Khitan-Mongol periods
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 61 , Issue 3 , June 2019 , pp. 831 - 843
Copyright
© 2019 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Amartuvshin, Ch, Monkhbayar, L, Badma-Oyu, B, Nyamkhuu, M. 2013. Monkhnoyon suvarga“ XXK-iin Omnogov’ aimgiin Bayan-Ovoo sumyn nutag dakh” Tsant Uul” uurkhain ashiglaltyn tusgai zovshoorliin talbai. Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology, Ulaanbaatar. Unpublished field report.Google Scholar
Donahue, DJ, Linick, TW, Jull, AJT. 1990. Isotope-ratio and background corrections for accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon measurements. Radiocarbon 32(2):135–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dorjsuren, Ts. 2003. A study on the Noyon uul tombs in Kharaa river valley excavated in 1954. In: Dorjsuren, Ts, editor. Collection of Dorjsuren’s Research Papers, Ulaanbaatar. p. 21–22. In Mongolian.Google Scholar
Eregzen, G, Amartuvshin, Ch, Gordon, RB, Park, JS. 2007. Transitions in cast iron technology of the nomads in Mongolia. Journal of Archaeological Science 34:1187–1196.Google Scholar
Honeychurch, W. 2013. The nomad as state builder: Historical theory and material evidence from Mongolia. Journal of World Prehistory 26(4): 283–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, JS. 2015. The implication of varying 14C concentrations in carbon samples extracted from Mongolian iron objects of the Mongol period. Journal of Archaeological Science 63: 59–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, JS, Chunag, A, Gelegdorj, E. 2008. A technological transition in Mongolia evident in microstructure, chemical composition and radiocarbon age of cast iron artifacts. Journal of Archaeological Science 35:2465–2470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, JS, Eregzen, G, Yeruul-Erdene, Ch. 2010. Technological traditions inferred from iron artifacts of the Xiongnu Empire in Mongolia. Journal of Archaeological Science 37:2689–2697.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, JS, Honeychurch, W, Chunag, A. 2011. Ancient bronze technology and nomadic communities of the Middle Gobi Desert, Mongolia. Journal of Archaeololgical Science 38:805–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, JS, Honeychurch, W, Chunag, A. 2016. Complicating the frontier: Armaments, fortifications, and identities beyond the Great Wall. Journal of Archaeololgical Science: Reports 6:475–487.Google Scholar
Park, JS, Honeychurch, W, Chunag, A. 2019a. Iron technology and Medieval nomadic communities of East Mongolia. Archaeol. Anthropological Science 11:555–565 doi: 10.1007/s12520-017-0553-y.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, JS, Honeychurch, W, Chunag, A. 2019b. Novel micro-scale steelmaking from molten cast iron practiced in medieval nomadic communities of East Mongolia. Archaeometry. 61(1):83–98 doi: 10.1111/arcm.12413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, JS, Reichert, S. 2015. Technological tradition of the Mongol Empire as inferred from bloomery and cast iron objects excavated in Karakorum. Journal of Archaeological Science 53:49–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perlee, Kh. 1959. A study on the Khitan and the Khitan-Mongol relationship. Studia Historica 1. Ulaanbaatar: Historical Institute of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. In Mongolian.Google Scholar
Perlee, Kh. 1961. Ancient and prehistoric towns and settlements of Mongolia. Ulaanbaatar: Mongolian Academy of Sciences. In Mongolian.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Buck, C, Cheng, H, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Haflidason, H, Hajdas, I, Hatté, C, Heaton, TJ, Hoffmann, DL, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, Manning, SW, Niu, M, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Scott, EM, Southon, JR, Staff, RA, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):1869–1887.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rostoker, W, Bronson, B. 1990. Pre-industrial iron—its technology and ethnology. Philadelphia, PA: Archeomaterials monograph. No. 1.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Reimer, PJ. 1993. Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35(1):215–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M, Reimer, PJ, Reimer, RW. 2017. CALIB 7.1 (WWW program). Available at http://calib.org, accessed 2017-10-3.Google Scholar
Tylecote, RF. 1992. A history of metallurgy. New York, Brookfield: The Institute of Materials.Google Scholar
Verhoeven, JD. 1975. Fundamentals of physical metallurgy. New York, London, Sydney, Toronto: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Wagner, DB. 1996. Iron and steel in ancient China. Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill.Google Scholar
Wagner, DB. 2008. Science and civilization in China. In: Needham, J, editor. Chemistry and chemical technology. Part 11: ferrous metallurgy. Vol. 5. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar