In central China’s Hunan Province, archaeologists have uncovered evidence of a zinc production site dating to the late Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). The finds include large smelting furnaces as well as zinc slag, the by-product of the conversion of zinc ores to pure zinc. Along with India, China was one of the major production centers for zinc between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries, after which the material began to be produced on a larger scale in Europe.
Features November/December 2024
Thousands of fantastical bronzes are beginning to reveal the secrets of a legendary Chinese dynasty
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Features November/December 2023
Excavations in Sichuan Province reveal the lost treasure of an infamous seventeenth-century warlord
Features March/April 2017
Exploring the legacy of the New World’s most successful native rebellion
Features March/April 2017
The Olmec city of Tres Zapotes may have owed its longevity to a new form of government
Features March/April 2017
An ancient city in Germany tells a different story of the Roman conquest
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An unusual industrial history emerges from some of the city’s hippest neighborhoods
Artifacts March/April 2017
