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Conference 2018
MATERIALISING EMPIRE IN ANCIENT ROME AND HAN CHINA (8-12 April 2018, in Beijing, China)
Conference 2015
Dialogue of Civilisations: Comparing Multiple Centres of Early Civilisations of the World (5-10 April 2015, Beijing, china)
Conference 2011
Emergence of Bronze Age Societies: A Global Perspective ( 8-12 November2011, Baoji, China)
The International Centre for Chinese Heritage and Archaeology (ICCHA), Institute of Archaeology, University College London, Peking University and Baoji Municipal People's Government, Shaanxi province, China, invite scholars to participate in the conference Emergence of Bronze Age Societies: A Global Perspective.
The conference aims at enhancing our understanding of the background and development of Bronze Age societies on a global scale. It will trace the beginnings of the use of copper and bronze throughout Eurasia and beyond, and investigate the societies that developed metallurgy. Questions to be raised are: What constitutes a Bronze Age? Which characteristics share early bronze using cultures? Is the use of bronze sufficient to define a Bronze Age society? What kinds of artefacts were predominantly produced? Which technological solutions were found in different bronze-using cultures to source raw materials and to produce alloys and artefacts? What was the role of cross-cultural exchange in the development of Bronze Age societies?
The conference especially seeks to provide a platform for integrating the achievements of Chinese archaeological research on the Bronze Age into a world-wide context. For this reason the conference will be held in Baoji, Shaanxi province, China, where a major bronze producing centre was located 3000 years ago, and where one of the largest collections of bronze artefacts in all of Asia is stored.
Date
08 to 12 November 2011
Venue:
Baoji Museum of Bronzes, Shaanxi province, China
Conference languages:
English/Chinese with translation
Topics for conference Emergence of Bronze Age Societies: A Global Perspective
Bronze metallurgy and complex societies
Demography, socio economic aspects
Scale of production, specialisation of crafts, workshop organisation
Types of commodities produced
What makes a Bronze Age?
Contacts and trade
Cross-Eurasian/long distance contacts and their role in forming Bronze Age societies
Raw materials and bronze production
Invention, transfer and adaptation of technology and typology
Centre and periphery in metal production and metal use
Technologies
Origin and development of bronze mining, smelting and alloying
Bronze casting technologies
Other metal working technologies
Bronze and ideology
Bronze and religion, mythology, and social hierarchy
Value, standardisation, and status