Economic embeddedness and small-scale iron production in the capital region of the Han Empire: the perspective from faunal remains

Abstract Most studies of the Han iron industry in the previous literature focus on large-scale ironworks, whereas the organization of small-scale iron production and its social, political, and economic connection to the overall Han Empire have not been empirically analyzed. This article offers the first discussion exploring the organization of small-scale iron production at a site called Taicheng associated with a medium-level settlement of Han country in the Guanzhong Basin, Shaanxi. We suggest that, using parameters proposed in the literature, evidence for iron production processes, such as manufacturing waste and techniques of final products, is inadequate to pinpoint clearly the type of organization used at Taicheng ironworks. However, by focusing on the domain of “economic embeddedness”, which draws upon multiple lines of evidence including that relating to all craft goods manufactured and food production, as well as the supply system for food, this article argues that it may be possible to more effectively evaluate if the ironworks was operated on the basis of so-called independent household production. This article proposes a theoretical scheme to explain and conceptualize how independent household production differs from other types of organization (i.e., nuclear corvee/convict, nucleated workshop, and retainer workshop) in terms of the degree of economic embeddedness. Through analyzing the faunal remains from Taicheng and comparing the results with those from Zhonghang, which was a large-scale Warring States ironworks in an urban center and therefore most likely relied upon a specialized food production system, this research suggests that the Taicheng evidence reveals a strong degree of economic embeddedness. Our finding challenges the often-repeated assumption, based on ancient textual sources, that small-scale ironworks were usually independent, household-based production units. Instead, the relatively small-scale ironworks at Taicheng was more likely a full-time, factory-like retainer or nucleated workshop. In a broader context, this new piece of information also suggests that the Han iron industry, particularly in the capital region, had a more complicated structure than that described by previous textually derived models.