Nuclear science techniques are crucial for understanding ancient cultures.

ANSTO Scientists use nuclear techniques to learn about Chinese Civilisations

ANSTO scientists have analysed archaeological remains up to 4000 years old from Bronze Age sites in northern China. 
 

They have used a combination of nuclear science methods to study cereal cultivation, animal husbandry practices and bronze metal-work technologies, and to determine how early trade routes may have existed between the East and the West.

Ancient bronze tools

Bronze contains a large number of trace elements, such as lead and strontium. These metals have isotope mixes (isotopic signatures) that are specific to individual ore bodies.

By measuring the isotopic signature of the artefacts, ANSTO researchers determined that the bronze from sites in northern China was manufactured locally rather than imported from Western cultures. However, one artefact contained a different isotope mix, and thus originates from a place as yet unknown.

Early agricultural practices

Charred seeds form much of the evidence about early agricultural practices in ancient China. Most of these seeds are millet seeds, although rice, wheat and barley are also present.

Radiocarbon dating was used to estimate the age of wheat remains at one site to about 4650 years ago, making it the oldest confirmed wheat in eastern Asia. This evidence indicates exchange between the East and the West more than 2000 years before the Silk Road route.

Clues about diet from bones

Radiocarbon dating estimates that bones at these sites, both from humans and a range of domestic animals, are approximately 4000 years old.

Stable isotope analysis of the bones revealed that millet was the staple of human diets and also for some domestic animals. Herded animals, such as cattle, sheep and goats, exhibited isotopic signatures that suggest they grazed well beyond agricultural areas.