Warring States bronze spear
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August 28, 2025
This is a bronze spear from the Warring States period, a long weapon used in ancient warfare. But today, I’m not going to focus on the weapon itself. Instead, I want to share an intriguing discovery I made while examining this artifact. Under a magnifying glass, I noticed intricate, small, and regular patterns on both the front and back of the spear’s shaft. These patterns are actually imprints left by silk fabric. This suggests that when this spear was buried with its owner, it was first wrapped in silk before being placed underground alongside other burial items. After more than 2,400 years of exposure to the elements, the actual silk has long since decomposed, but its imprint remains clearly visible on the bronze surface.
We know that during the Han Dynasty, the Silk Road became a major trade route connecting China to the Western Regions, indicating that silk production had already reached a high level by then. However, the history of silk-making in China dates back much further. Ancient legends tell of our ancestors learning to raise silkworms, and archaeological findings support this. Neolithic sites have uncovered spinning wheels, providing evidence of early textile production. Even earlier, traces of plain silk fabrics have been found on Shang Dynasty bronze bells, proving that silk was already in use thousands of years ago.
Before 2006, physical examples of silk were rare, mostly limited to Han Dynasty tombs like Mawangdui in Changsha, where well-preserved silk garments were discovered. Then, in late 2007, a significant breakthrough occurred with the discovery of silk fabrics in the tombs of Jing'an and Zhou in Jiangxi. These textiles were of higher quality than common silk, showing advanced weaving techniques. I had the privilege of seeing similar imprints on a Warring States-period bronze spear in 1994, thirteen years before the Jing'an silk was unearthed. At the time, the data was impressive. The patterns on the spear revealed clear warp and weft densities, with the warp threads noticeably thicker than the weft. This detail was truly surprising for a bronze artifact.
Now, let's take a look at another object: a small bronze arrow and a bronze gong. Bronze figurines were found in the Erlitou culture site and were used up until the Han Dynasty, after which they were gradually replaced by iron tools. The use of bronze in tools and weapons spanned over two thousand years. While their basic shape remained relatively simple, there were subtle changes over time. As a weapon, bronze gongs underwent continuous refinement and improvement in combat effectiveness.
Early bronze gongs from the Spring and Autumn period were typically double-winged and flat. However, during the middle of the Spring and Autumn period, their cross-section evolved into a triangular blade, which became dominant and eventually replaced the earlier winged design. Why did this change happen? Because these objects were used as projectiles in battle, and their flight performance was crucial. Initially, people designed them with wings, inspired by birds, with blades on both sides to increase damage. But over time, practical experience showed that the wide wings caused instability due to air resistance, reducing accuracy. The larger the wings, the worse the impact. By changing the cross-section to a triangular blade, the effect of wind was minimized, accuracy improved, and the penetration power increased, making the weapon more effective in combat. This evolution reflects the ingenuity of ancient Chinese craftsmen in adapting their designs based on real-world usage.