Mining and metallurgy in Southwest China, 14th to 19th century: Archaeo-metallurgical investigations and historical geography

拟议的项目将对中国西南地区的金属开采遗址进行系统的考古冶金调查、文献和调查，重点是帝国晚期(1368年-1911年)。通过对迄今研究不足的时期和地区的探索，申请者打算提供基础研究，并为未来的研究保存记录、材料和遗址。预计研究成果将有助于解决中国采矿史上的悬而未决的问题，冶金技术的改造，以及主要是非礼仪技术专业领域的传统和创新。我们知道，从14世纪开始，云南省、四川和贵州邻近地区以及中国、缅甸和越南交界地区的铜、银和其他金属矿藏的开采经历了前所未有的扩张，并在18世纪再次经历了前所未有的扩张。然而，由于中国时期的采矿部门，特别是帝国晚期的采矿部门，几乎没有文献记载，许多方面仍然未知。我们仍然无法找到许多已知名字的重要地雷，而其他地点也是偶然发现的，但无法确定日期或身份。采矿的集约化显然涉及技术和组织创新，但这些变革仍未得到充分了解。通过采用跨学科的方法，合作项目将获得新的材料记录。对于遗址的识别，我们将利用历史地理学对广泛的数据进行处理，特别是对地名集群的研究。本地化将使合作伙伴能够开展有针对性的实地工作，记录材料遗骸和口述传统，并对矿石、矿渣和其他遗骸进行采样。中方合作伙伴将对样本进行材料分析，而申请者将根据收集的数据进行基于地理信息系统的分析。在这些科学数据的基础上，该项目将重建中国西南帝国晚期矿冶历史变迁的历史。该项目的四个目标是：第一，全面记录现场遗迹和记录，以保护文化遗产和未来的研究。这方面迫在眉睫，因为遗迹和传统正在消失。第二，冶金技术的系统和科学改造。第三，在地理信息系统的背景下对技术传统和创新进行分析，包括当地社会的变化、区域间的流动、迁入、书面和口头知识、运输和商业、自然环境和变化的地貌。第四，在人类历史上不同地区和不同时代传播和体现知识的不同结构的比较背景下，对技术创新和专门知识传统的分析。

The proposed project will undertake the systematic archaeo-metallurgical survey, documentation and investigation of sites of metal mining in the Southwest of China, with the focus on the late imperial period (1368-1911). Through the exploration of the hitherto under-researched period and region, the applicants intend to provide basic research as well as conserve records, materials and sites for future research. Research results are expected to contribute to open issues in the history of mining in China in the transformation of metallurgical technologies and in traditions and innovations in a largely non-liturgical area of technological expertise.We know that the exploitation of metal deposits of copper, silver and other metals in Yunnan province and adjacent areas of Sichuan and Guizhou as well as in the borderland zone of China, Burma and Vietnam experienced an unprecedented expansion from the fourteenth century onwards, and again during the eighteenth century. However, as the mining sector in imperial China, especially during the late imperial period, is scarcely documented, many aspects remain unknown. We are still unable to locate numerous important mines known by name, while other sites have been found by accident but cannot be dated or identified. The intensification of mining evidently involved technological and organizational innovations, yet these transformations are still insufficiently understood.By employing inter-disciplinary approaches, the cooperative project will access new material records. For the identification of sites, we will employ historical geography on a wide range of data, especially focussing on clusters of place names. The localization will allow the partners to carry out targeted fieldwork for the recording of material remains and oral traditions as well as for sampling ores, slags and other remains. The Chinese partner will undertake material analyses on the samples, while the applicants will carry out GIS-bases analyses on the collected data. On the basis of these scientific data, the project will undertake the reconstruction of the historical transformation of mining and metallurgy in late imperial Southwestern China.The project’s four goals are: First, the comprehensive documentation of on-site remains and records for the preservation of cultural heritage and for future research. This aspect is of great urgency, as remains and traditions are presently vanishing.Second, the systematic and scientific reconstruction of metallurgical technologies. Third, a GIS-based analysis of technological traditions and innovations in the context of of local societies, inter-regional mobility, in-migration, written and oral knowledge, transport and commerce, natural environments and changing landscapes. Fourth, the analysis of technological innovation and traditions of expertise in the comparative context of different structures of transmitting and embodying knowledge in different regions and ages across human history.