Diversified Production and Shared Resources: Lead Isotope Analysis of Bronze Vessels from the Haidai Region During the Era of Confucius (6th–5th Century BCE)

During the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BCE), the disintegration of the ritual order and the decline of Zhou royal authority gave rise to successive regional hegemons; as the material correlate of the ritual system, bronze ritual vessels correspondingly shifted from the typological standardisation of the Western Zhou period toward regional diversification. The raw materials and production of bronze ritual vessels constitute a key line of evidence for tracing the evolution of political structure during the Chinese Bronze Age. This study, based on samples of 17 bronze vessels from the Qi State dating to the Spring and Autumn period, applies lead isotope analysis to trace the provenance of lead used in Spring and Autumn period bronze ritual vessels from the Haidai region, characterising the spatiotemporal patterning of lead resource procurement in this area and elucidating a bronze-casting industry in the Haidai region during the era of Confucius, characterised by pluralistic production and shared resource access. The results indicate that in the middle and late Spring and Autumn period, the exploited lead sources of the Haidai region are generally consistent with those of the Central Plains and Jianghan areas, with major ore deposits distributed in western Henan, eastern Hubei, southern Hunan, and other regions. Although both bronze technology and stylistic features indicate the existence of multiple production centres in the Haidai region, states such as Qi and Lu did not develop large-scale independent copper and lead mining and smelting operations; rather, they continued to share metal resources with states such as Jin and Chu. The identification of a small number of bronze vessels with high lead isotope ratios provides an important reference for further investigating their provenance and use, reflecting Qi’s exploitation of lead deposits in the eastern Haidai region. The long-distance circulation of bronze resources epitomised the “plurality and unity” configuration of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods and also constituted an important economic foundation for the unified empires of the Qin and Han dynasties.