The peculiarities of transition to the early iron age on the territory of North China

The article evaluates different approaches in detection of the beginning of the Early Iron age on the territory of China. The scientific urgency of this kind of review is caused by tendency within the last 10-15 years to suppose the finds of implements made from cast iron much earlier than they were treated before. These artifacts were found at well-examined archaeological sites, such as Shangcunling graveyard of small Zhou princedom Northern Guo (dated from the last quarter of IX to the first quarter of VIII centuries BC) where the examples of meteoritic and metallurgical iron were fixed together in one complex and they both were used as precious objects. Authors of this article suggest to treat a time of using of new material as definite epoch transitional from bronze to iron; within it some considerable changes in economics as well as in social structures took place. Data obtained at the moment not only from China, but also from the cultures of neighboring territories give the opportunity for wide-scale dating of this transitional period (called also as «pre-Scythian» or «Early Scythian») within the frame of IX-VII centuries BC. The earlier finds of iron implements from the archaeological sites of Xinjiang (at Yanbulaq, Chawuhu, Yanghai etc.) point out the exact direction for adoption of new material from the regions of Near East and Middle East where iron came into use at least in XIV century BC. Using of iron at the initial stage didn’t give any distinct mechanical advantages over bronze. Developing of iron-cast technology allowed Zhou artisans to arrange mass production of working tools from more available (and, because of it, cheaper) raw material. But the process of hot forging which could produce sharp ends and cutting edges was assimilated only several centuries later. So, up to the beginning of Han Dynasty the most part of weapons’ production went on to use bronze. The swords, dagger-axes, assegais were made from bronzes while the tools (knives, spade-cups, hoes, chisels) - from iron. The correlation between two kinds of metals was fixed also in some narrative sources, f. e. «Guo yu» («The Discourses of the States»), edited at the period of Zhanguo. The armament complex connected with terracotta army of Qin Shihuandi may be used as a striking evidence of this situation, as if the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor represents a singular summary on Zhou culture as a whole.