China excavates ancient bronze mirror workshop

Chinese archaeologists said on April 24 that a 2,000-year-old bronze mirror workshop had just been excavated in Shandong province, eastern China.

Bai Yunxiang, deputy director of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that while conducting excavations in a village near the city of Zibo, archaeologists found more than 100 stone molds, foundries, wells and bellows.

An archaeologist displays a bronze mirror unearthed in an ancient tomb in China's Henan Province. (Source: Xinhua)

According to Mr. Bach, this is the first time archaeologists have excavated a bronze mirror workshop and this archaeological discovery provides valuable information on the bronze mirror making techniques of ancient Chinese people.

Archaeologists date the workshop to the early Han Dynasty, which ruled from 202 BC to 220 AD. This was a period when polished bronze mirrors became common household items.

Stone moulds found in the workshop also bear many period features, with carved dragon motifs and grass leaf designs.

Discovered in 2011, the archaeological site is believed to be located in an "industrial zone" within the ancient capital of Linzi, a thriving commercial center during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770 BC to 221 BC).

Previously, archaeologists also excavated an iron workshop in this area./.

According to (TTXVN) - VT