Archaeometallurgical research on the manufacture of leadmingqifrom Nanyang in Chu state during the Warring States period

The mingqi is the material manifestation of ancient Chinese burial rituals. As opposed to the prevalent bronze wares in the living world, lead mingqi was one of the major wares for the netherworld. But research on lead mingqi has been quite sparse up to the present. In this paper, 11 Warring States period lead mingqi from three Chu sites in Nanyang are taken as examples and analysed by metallurgical observations, scanning electron microscopy with energy‐dispersive spectroscopy (SEM‐EDS) and multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC‐ICP‐MS) methods. In terms of the manufacturing process, they were all cast in moulds and cooled slowly rather than quickly. Some regular insights are refined by comparison with all the other lead mingqi collected. The lead weapons are made of pure lead, while the lead axle caps are made with a Pb:Sn ratio of around 3:1. Smaller pieces of artefacts are in random ratios, presumably cast with leftover materials. In addition, the lead raw materials are supposed to be sourced locally. The lead mingqi unearthed in the same tomb are more likely to have similar isotopes, which may mean they derived from the same batch of products.