Materials, technologies, customs, and beliefs often travel together. While research on interregional interaction across the Eurasian steppes has emphasized the transmission of materials and technologies, the adoption, resistance, and localization of customs and beliefs remain underexplored. This article examines metalworker burial customs in Shang (1600-1000 BCE) and Zhou (1000-221 BCE) China, identifying two distinct traditions in the Central Plains and the “Crescent-Shaped Cultural-Communication Belt” (Tong Enzheng 1987).
In the Central Plains, metalworkers’ identity was signaled primarily by proximity to foundries and secondarily by including tuyères or ceramic mold fragments in tombs. Although only a limited number of graves contained metalworking artifacts, the overall land-use pattern suggests that most individuals were directly or indirectly involved in metalworking. This reflects the Shang and Zhou bronze industry’s “prescriptive” organization (Franklin 2004), where individual workers performed specialized tasks, and the metalworker community as a whole were coordinated to complete the production. The emphasis in burial custom was on integration with the workshop and community rather than on personal possession of metalworking tools.
In contrast, the Crescent Belt metalworker burial custom was characterized by the inclusion of a relatively complete metalworking apparatus or its central competent — bivalve moulds — in the burial. Such custom is also widely found in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, but largely rejected by the Central Plains metalworkers. In general, this tradition indicates the identity of metalworkers as independent artisans who operated without relying on permanent metalworking facilities or large-scale coordination, reflecting a “holistic” mode of production (Franklin 2004). This tradition, however, varied by region: northeast China’s metalworker burials highlighted a warrior-metalworker complex identity while those in southwestern China emphasized symbolic aspects of metalworks. In other words, while broadly adopted by different Eurasian metalworking groups, the meaning of such burial custom may have significantly transformed.