Introduction of bronze weapons

Introduction to Bronze Weapons When ancestors used tools for the first time, they could not be called human beings. Those tools were simply selecting objects. What were these earliest tools used for? It is not difficult to imagine that they are used to meet the needs of primitive people for gathering and hunting, and often have multiple functions.

Although these tools are used in production, their killing ability is gradually recognized in practice. With the emergence of private ownership and the establishment of clan society, there will be struggles between individuals, clans or clans to protect and compete for living environment and resources. This kind of struggle often involves violence. Although it is different from the later wars, there are many similarities in the forms of expression.

In the violent struggle, the ancients (much earlier than the "ancients" we often say) naturally chose and used tools to increase their chances of survival. This choice is conscious and will choose those production tools that are more conducive to killing. Once the fighting has a certain scale and frequency, the ancients will transform these frequently selected tools according to the requirements of killing, so as to enhance their killing ability and weaken their production capacity. This process of selection and transformation promoted the emergence and development of weapons.

Finally, in the later period of primitive society, classes were formed, and the causes of armed conflicts were more complicated, which were influenced by political factors and developed into wars. The need of war makes the difference between production tools and combat tools bigger and bigger, and a number of tools with modified killing ability stand out and differentiate into weapons. The earliest weapons were mainly stone, bone and wood, but after a long period of development, there were not many kinds, which also reflected the differentiation of production tools.

When human beings have mastered the smelting and casting technology of bronze, they will first use it in the manufacture of weapons, which is in line with the development law of human society. Bronze is far superior to other materials at that time in physical properties such as hardness and ductility, and its outstanding physical properties are particularly obvious when used in weapons.

In addition, the scarcity and special metallic luster of bronze make bronze weapons a symbol of power. In the early stage of class formation, military control is the most important part of political power, so the direct symbolic meaning of weapons can also be expressed by gold and bronze materials.

At present, the earliest discovered Chinese bronze ware is a single-mode cast bronze knife, which is 4,700 years ago and is called "the first knife in China".

Although Chinese and western scholars have different views on the origin of copper smelting in China, and correspondingly have different views on the origin and early development of Chinese bronzes, whatever the facts, it should be noted that the age of this knife has not yet entered the Bronze Age, but it is still in a transitional state between copper and stone.

It is generally believed that Chinese civilization entered the bronze age at the latest 4000 years ago. During this period, bronze installations and casting sites have been found in the ruins of Gansu and Henan, but in fact, the development of early bronze weapons was relatively slow. Compared with Erlitou site in this period, the unearthed bronze weapons are still far less than those with stone bones.

Since then, the development of weapons has been greatly assisted by two aspects, the need of war and the development of smelting and casting technology. After entering the slave society, a series of state ruling machines, such as the army, have been established and their scale has been expanding, and the configuration of weapons needs to keep up accordingly, which requires the batch manufacturing and quality improvement of weapons.

Frequent wars and the expansion of investment promoted the development of weapons production technology, and the well-developed weapons manufacturing industry in various countries during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period became the condition for expanding the scale of war. The development of bronze smelting and casting technology has a more intuitive impact on weapons. With the gradual mastery of bronze alloy proportion by ancient craftsmen, the progress of surface treatment technology and the development of smelting and casting scale, bronze weapons are gradually mature in technology and may change in shape under the comprehensive action.

From the time point of view, the weapons in the early Xia and Shang dynasties were small in shape and types, basically following the original weapon system, and the technology was relatively primitive and rough. Judging from the overall operational performance, it is not enough to change the face of weapons, and its symbolic significance is greater than its practical significance. The production scale of weapons in Shang dynasty was considerable, but the original weapons, such as stone bones, could not be completely excluded in quantity. Weapons were divided into three categories: long-range weapons, near-bo weapons and protective weapons.

In the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period, the number of weapons was far ahead of the dynasty. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Zhou royal family and the vassal states established arsenals and manufactured weapons in large quantities. The book Kao Gong Ji, which was written in the late Spring and Autumn Period, shows that the casting technology in this period has been able to accurately grasp the alloy ratio, and the development of weapons has become mature. By the Warring States and the Qin Dynasty, the shape of weapons tended to be stable, the craft reached its peak, and the late types of swords and halberds developed greatly.

Although the appearance of ironware has impacted the dominance of bronzes, most of them are wrought iron because China's iron smelting process inherits the blast furnace smelting of copper smelting process. Different from western wrought iron, wrought iron is not suitable for making weapons, but more used for making farm tools.

However, there are also regional differences. Compared with some countries in the east and south, the manufacturing of iron weapons in Qin State is backward, which is also the reason why a large number of bronze weapons were unearthed in Qin Shihuang's mausoleum, but few iron weapons were found. At the same time, Yan, Han, Zhao, Chu and other countries have long been famous for their management of iron, and some iron smelting sites and concentrated iron weapons have been discovered. Generally speaking, iron soldiers have not become the mainstream at this time, and their real position to replace bronze weapons should be in the Western Han Dynasty.

Generally speaking, there are two tendencies in the evolution of bronze weapons: functionalization and artistry. Both are easy to understand. Functionalization refers to those parts that pursue the efficiency of weapon use in the form change, such as the continuous development of weapon attack and defense ability, which is conducive to the improvement of ease of use, etc., and is the inevitable result of actual use.

On the other hand, artistry represents the change of symbolic meaning in the change of form. In view of the political particularity of bronze as a scarce resource, the symbolic significance of weapons is more important in a specific period. Art, such as the diversification of forms and the emergence of rare weapons (daggers, knives, cymbals, etc.). ), even in the category with a large number of samples, there is a tendency to be artistic, such as the appearance of decorative parts, the constant complication or even complication of decorative patterns, and the addition of rare ornaments (turquoise, gold and silver, etc.). ).

Functionalization and artistry do not exist in isolation, although there are occasional contradictions, but it is their * * * interaction that greatly expands the form of bronze weapons and finally forms exquisite weapon modeling. Bronze weapons inherited the original weapons and were eventually eliminated by steel weapons. During this period, the style of China's cold weapon system was basically formed, and many weapons that have been used for thousands of years can still see the connection with bronze weapons, which has far-reaching influence.