Along with Dr. Maddin's reference from "Expedition", I would like to adda
few additional references. In particular, the Ph.D. dissertation by Warangkhana
Rajpitak (1983) has an excellent discussion of martensitic bronze, I strongly
recommend getting a copy. Good luck.
Cheers,
Tom Fenn
Bennett, Anna and Ian C. Glover
1992 Decorated High-Tin Bronze Bowls from Thailand's Prehistory. In Southeast
Asian Archaeology 1990: Proceedings of the Third Conference of the European
Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, edited by Ian C. Glover, pp.
187-208. First Edition ed. Centre for South-East Asian Studies, University
of Hull.
Caley, Earle R.
1971 Analyses of Some Metal Artifacts from Ancient Afghanistan. In Science
and Archaeology, edited by Robert H. Brill, pp. 106-113. The Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
Chadwick, R.
1939 The Effect of Composition and Constitution on the Working and on Some
Physical Properties of the Tin Bronzes. Journal of Institute of Metals (Japan)
64:331-346.
Goodway, Martha and Harold C. Conklin
1987 Quenched High-Tin Bronzes from the Philippines. Archeomaterials 2(1):1-27.
Matsuda, Tsutomu
1928 On the Quenching and Tempering of Brass, Bronze, and "Aluminum-Bronze".
Journal of Institute of Metals (Japan) 39:67-109.
Meeks, Nigel D.
1988 Surface Studies of Roman Bronze Mirrors, Comparative High-Tin Bronze
Dark Age Material and Black Chinese Mirrors. In Proceedings of the 26th
International Archaeometry Symposium, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada,
May 16th to May 20th, 1988, edited by Ronald M. Farquhar, Ronald G. V. Hancock
and L. A. Pavlish, pp. 124-127. Archaeometry Laboratory, Department of Physics,
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Meeks, Nigel D.
1993a Patination phenomena on Roman and Chinese high-tin bronze mirrors
and other artefacts. In Metal Plating and Patination: Cultural, Technical
and Historical Developments, edited by Susan La Niece and Paul T. Craddock,
pp. 63-84. First ed. Butterworh-Heinemann Ltd, Oxford, England.
Meeks, Nigel D.
1993b Surface characterization of tinned bronze, high-tin bronze, tinned
iron and arsenical bronze. In Metal Plating and Patination: Cultural, Technical
and Historical Developments, edited by Susan La Niece and Paul T. Craddock,
pp. 247-275. First ed. Butterworh-Heinemann Ltd, Oxford, England.
Naruse, Masakazu
1989 Copperware in the Shoso-in, Nara. Bulletin of the Metals Museum 14:41-50.
Paramasivan, S.
1941 Investigations on Ancient Indian Metallurgy. Proceedings of The Indian
Academy of Sciences, Section A 13(2):87-93.
Pigott, Vincent C., Surapol Natapintu and Udom Theetiparivatra
1992 The Thailand Archaeometallurgy Project 1984-5: Research in the Development
of Prehistoric Metal Use in Northeast Thailand. In Early Metallurgy, Trade
and Urban Centres in Thailand and Southeast Asia: 13 Archaeological Essays,
edited by Ian C. Glover, Pornchai Suchitta and John Villiers, pp. 47-62.
White Lotus Co., Ltd., Bankok, Thailand.
Pillai, S. G. K., R. M. Pillai, A. D. Damodaran and T. R. Ramachandran
1994 The Thermomechanical Processing of High-Tin Bronzes--An Old Practice
in a South Indian Village. Journal of Metals (March):59-62.
Rajpitak, Warangkhana
1983 The Development of Copper Alloy Metallurgy in Thailand in the Pre-Buddhist
Period with Special Reference to High-Tin Bronze. Ph.D. dissertation, University
of London, Institute of Archaeology.
Ravich, Irina G.
1996 The Origins and the Composition Peculiarities of the High-Tin Hot-forged
Bronze Mirrors with the Thickened Edge. Bulletin of the Metals Museum 26(2):21-26.
Reeves, M. R., J. S. Bowden and J. W. Cuthbertson
1953 Tin bronzes: A report on the microstructures of those containing 15-28
per cent of tin. Metal Industry (January 16):49-51.
Shoukang, Zhu and He Tangkun
1993 Studies of ancient Chinese mirrors and other bronze artefacts. In
Metal Plating and Patination: Cultural, Technical and Historical Developments,
edited by Susan La Niece and Paul T. Craddock, pp. 50-62. First ed. Butterworh-Heinemann
Ltd, Oxford, England.
Shuyun, Sun and N. F. Kennon
2002 The Study of Microstructure of Chinese Ancient Mirrors. Bulletin of
the Metals Museum 35(March):3-15, 18 figs, 7 tbls.
Shuyun, Sun and Wang Kezhi
1994 An Experimental Study of Chinese Gongs and Cymbals. Bulletin of the
Metals Museum 21(1):19-34.
Srinivasan, Sharada
1994a High-tin bronze bowl making in Kerala, South India, and its archaeological
implications. In South Asian Archaeology 1993: Proceedings of the Twelfth
International Conference of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologists
held in Helsinki, 5-9 July, 1993, edited by Asko Parpola and Petteri Koskikallio,
pp. 695-706. Vol. 2. 2 Volumes vols. Academia Scientiarum Fennica, Helsinki,
Finland.
Srinivasan, Sharada
1998 Highlights of Ancient Metallurgy in South India: Early Use of High-Tin
Bronzes, High-Carbon Steel, Metallic Zinc, Bronze Smelting and Solid Cast
Images. In Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on the Beginning
of the Use of Metals and Alloys (BUMA-IV), May 25-27, 1998, Matsue, Shimane,
Japan, edited by Kenzo Igaki, pp. 79-84. First Edition ed. BUMA-IV Organizing
Committee, The Japan Institute of Metals, Aoba, Aza-Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai,
Japan.
Srinivasan, Sharada and Ian Glover
1998 High-Tin Bronze Mirrors of Kerala, South India. Institute for Archaeo-Metallurgical
Studies Newsletter 20(Winter):15-17.
Srinivasan, Sharada and Ian C. Glover
1995 Wrought and quenched, and cast high-tin bronzes in Kerala State, India.
Historical Metallurgy 29(2):69-88.
Stech, Tamara and Robert Maddin
1986 Reflections on Early Metallurgy in Southeast Asia. In Proceedings
of Symposium on the Early Metallurgy in Japan and the Surrounding Area, October
16-17, 1986, Sendai, Japan, edited by The Metals Museum, pp. 43-56. Bulletin
of the Metals Museum, Special Issue. Vol. 11. The Metals Museum, The Japan
Institute of Metals, Sendai, Japan.
Taube, Michelle, W. Thomas Chase, Alison J. Davenport and A. Peter Jardine
1995 Investigation and Replication of the Surface Microstructure of Early
Chinese Bronze Mirrors. In Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology IV: Symposium
held May 16-21, 1994, Cancun, Mexico, edited by Pamela B. Vandiver, James
R Druzik, Jose Luis Galvan Madrid, Ian C. Freestone and George Segan Wheeler,
pp. 215-221. First ed. Symposium Proceedings. Vol. 352. Materials Research
Society, Pittsburgh, PA.
Taube, Michelle, Alison J. Davenport, Alexander H. King and W. Thomas Chase,
III
1996 Selective Dissolution in Copper-Tin Alloys: Formation of Corrosion-Resistant
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and Geochemistry of Oxides, Oxyhydroxides, and Related Materials, Materials
Research Society Spring Meeting, San Francisco. Materials Research Society.
Taube, Michelle, Alexander H. King and W. Thomas Chase, III
1997 Investigation of the Altered Layer on Ancient Chinese Bronze Mirrors
and Model High-Tin Bronzes. In Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology V:
Symposium held December 3-5, 1996, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., edited
by Pamela B. Vandiver, James R. Druzik, John F. Merkel and John Stewart,
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Weirong, Zhou
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>-- Original Message --
>Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2002 10:26:45 -0400
>Reply-To: Arch-Metals Group <[log in to unmask]>
>From: Elizabeth Hamilton <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: High tin bronze wire
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>
> I've been working on some bronze and iron artifacts from prehistoric
>Thailand, and the collection includes some artifacts that may be unique:
>fine wire made out of high tin quenched bronze. This is bronze with a
>tin content of between 20% and 26%. It's normally very brittle and
>unworkable at room temperature, so it can only be worked red hot; i.e.,
>over 500 degrees C. If quenched from red hot, though, the
>microstructure is completely different and the material is fairly
>workable at room temperature.
>
> This quenched alloy is rare, but has appeared as bowls in 11th C
>A.D.
>Korea, early Islamic Iran and in prehistoric (Late Iron Age, c. 200
>B.C.-A.D. 300) Thailand, and as gongs in modern Philippines. What I
>have, though, is wire. I've looked at some pieces under the microscope
>and they are clearly faceted. There are no striations from drawing and
>none of the spiral grooves produced by twisting. They could only have
>been made by hammering. The work is astonishly fine for hammering
>though; some of the pieces are less than a millimeter in diameter. They
>were found in graves in contexts that suggest they were used as
>necklaces.
>
> Does anyone out there have any experience with this high tin quenched
>alloy? How about with very fine wire produced by hammering rather than
>twisting? Any comparisons or parallels would be welcome.
>
>Elizabeth Hamilton
>University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
>[log in to unmask]
__________________________________________________
Thomas Fenn
Department of Anthropology
Emil W. Haury Anthropology Building, Bldg. #30
The University of Arizona
1009 East South Campus Drive
P.O. Box 210030
Tucson, AZ 85721-0030
(520) 621-2585 (phone)
(520) 621-2088 (fax)
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