2:45 PM - 3:00 PM
[HTT16-17] Provenance analysis for gun bullets applicable to Dreyse needle rifle prevailed in Japan
Keywords:Dreyse needle rifle, Pb isotopic composition
Introduction
Lead isotopic compositions have a potential to estimate the material source of metallic artifacts. Authors revealed that half of gun bullets prevailed in 19th century in Japan, which used in the Boshin War and Satsuma Rebellion, was derived from foreign source (perhaps the United Kingdom, hereafter UK) and the other half was domestic source.[1]
However, this study[1] cannot distinguish the source regions between the UK and Germany in foreign samples due to the similarity of Pb isotopic compositions. They alternatively concluded that the source of the foreign samples was from the UK through historical knowledge such as the import records for firearms in the Japanese customs. On the other hand, mining, manufacturing, and military systems of Germany (Prussia) were flourished in the middle 19th century thus the world situation was such that it was no longer possible to unconditionally assume that the product was imported from the UK around the Boshin War. For example, Prussia won the Schleswig War (to Denmark, 1864), the Austro-Prussian War (to Austria, 1866), and the Franco-Prussian War (to France, 1870). For these reasons, the purpose of this study is to identify the German lead source using gun bullets applied to Dreyse needle rifle developed by Prussian gunsmith in 1836.
About Dreyse needle rifle
The Dreyse needle rifle (Dreyse Zündnadelgewehr in German) was the first bolt action breech-loading rifle developed in Prussia, which was the developing country at that time. This rifle led the victories for the wars against Denmark and Austria in the 1860s, then countries around the world had taken notice of its advanced mechanisms. In Japan, the Prussian non-commission officer, Carl Köppen, who was invited by Kishu-Wakayama clan in the period of the military reforms of the early Meiji era, lectured the manufacturing this rifle and military unit operation. However, the Dreyse rifle became obsolete in the 1870s because it had some fatal flaws, for instance, the structure of patron and the sealing of the chamber.
The first time of the Dreyse rifle was used in the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877 by the government army. During this rebellion, government side were also insufficient the supply capacities to manufacture the gun bullets applied to Snider rifles, the official equipment of the Japanese army. The government reluctantly put the old Dreyse rifles in the late period at this rebellion, such as the battle fields of Miyazaki, Oita, and Kagoshima.
Pb isotopic measurement
The shape of gun bullets for the Dreyse rifle is quite different to the major bullets at that time such as Snider and Enfield rifles (Figure). We sampled the surface lead components on the gun bullets excavated from some points in Japan with wiping the wet cotton swab to avoid sample damage. After sample swabs brought back to the clean lab, lead was dissolved in the acid. Purified lead was measured Pb isotopic ratios using the MC-ICP-MS (Thermo Scientific, Neptune Plus) installed in The Research Institute for the Humanity and Nature, Japan, and the University of the Ryukyus, Japan, with adding Tl for the correction of isotopic fractionation during measurement.
The results showed three compositional groups: the first was plotted in the vicinity of the Ikuno[2, 3, 4], Akenobe[3], and Tada mine[5] in SW Japan; the second was plotted in the German mine (perhaps Erzgebirge deposits[6]) near Zühl where the center of the weapon manufactures was located; and the third was plotted in the intermediate area between above two groups. Although the historical documents have not been recorded the sources of gun bullets for the Dreyse rifle prevailed in 19th century in Japan, Pb isotopic composition suggests the possibilities the import from Germany, provision from adjacent region of the factory, and the mixing of raw materials.
*The part of Pb isotopic measurement used the collaboration with RIHN project.
References
[1] Aizawa, M. et al. (2022), J. Archaeol. Sci. Rep., 41, 103268.
[2] Sasaki, A. et al. (1982), Mining Geol., 32, 457-474.
[3] Mabuchi, H. and Hirao, Y. (1987), J. Archaeol. Soc. Nippon, 73, 199-210.
[4] Ishida, M. et al. (2024), Geochemistry, 84, 126045.
[5] Nakanishi, T. et al. (2015), Mining, Mater. Process. Instit. Japan, Abstr.
[6] Niederschalg, E. et al. (2003), Archeometry, 45, 61-100.
Lead isotopic compositions have a potential to estimate the material source of metallic artifacts. Authors revealed that half of gun bullets prevailed in 19th century in Japan, which used in the Boshin War and Satsuma Rebellion, was derived from foreign source (perhaps the United Kingdom, hereafter UK) and the other half was domestic source.[1]
However, this study[1] cannot distinguish the source regions between the UK and Germany in foreign samples due to the similarity of Pb isotopic compositions. They alternatively concluded that the source of the foreign samples was from the UK through historical knowledge such as the import records for firearms in the Japanese customs. On the other hand, mining, manufacturing, and military systems of Germany (Prussia) were flourished in the middle 19th century thus the world situation was such that it was no longer possible to unconditionally assume that the product was imported from the UK around the Boshin War. For example, Prussia won the Schleswig War (to Denmark, 1864), the Austro-Prussian War (to Austria, 1866), and the Franco-Prussian War (to France, 1870). For these reasons, the purpose of this study is to identify the German lead source using gun bullets applied to Dreyse needle rifle developed by Prussian gunsmith in 1836.
About Dreyse needle rifle
The Dreyse needle rifle (Dreyse Zündnadelgewehr in German) was the first bolt action breech-loading rifle developed in Prussia, which was the developing country at that time. This rifle led the victories for the wars against Denmark and Austria in the 1860s, then countries around the world had taken notice of its advanced mechanisms. In Japan, the Prussian non-commission officer, Carl Köppen, who was invited by Kishu-Wakayama clan in the period of the military reforms of the early Meiji era, lectured the manufacturing this rifle and military unit operation. However, the Dreyse rifle became obsolete in the 1870s because it had some fatal flaws, for instance, the structure of patron and the sealing of the chamber.
The first time of the Dreyse rifle was used in the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877 by the government army. During this rebellion, government side were also insufficient the supply capacities to manufacture the gun bullets applied to Snider rifles, the official equipment of the Japanese army. The government reluctantly put the old Dreyse rifles in the late period at this rebellion, such as the battle fields of Miyazaki, Oita, and Kagoshima.
Pb isotopic measurement
The shape of gun bullets for the Dreyse rifle is quite different to the major bullets at that time such as Snider and Enfield rifles (Figure). We sampled the surface lead components on the gun bullets excavated from some points in Japan with wiping the wet cotton swab to avoid sample damage. After sample swabs brought back to the clean lab, lead was dissolved in the acid. Purified lead was measured Pb isotopic ratios using the MC-ICP-MS (Thermo Scientific, Neptune Plus) installed in The Research Institute for the Humanity and Nature, Japan, and the University of the Ryukyus, Japan, with adding Tl for the correction of isotopic fractionation during measurement.
The results showed three compositional groups: the first was plotted in the vicinity of the Ikuno[2, 3, 4], Akenobe[3], and Tada mine[5] in SW Japan; the second was plotted in the German mine (perhaps Erzgebirge deposits[6]) near Zühl where the center of the weapon manufactures was located; and the third was plotted in the intermediate area between above two groups. Although the historical documents have not been recorded the sources of gun bullets for the Dreyse rifle prevailed in 19th century in Japan, Pb isotopic composition suggests the possibilities the import from Germany, provision from adjacent region of the factory, and the mixing of raw materials.
*The part of Pb isotopic measurement used the collaboration with RIHN project.
References
[1] Aizawa, M. et al. (2022), J. Archaeol. Sci. Rep., 41, 103268.
[2] Sasaki, A. et al. (1982), Mining Geol., 32, 457-474.
[3] Mabuchi, H. and Hirao, Y. (1987), J. Archaeol. Soc. Nippon, 73, 199-210.
[4] Ishida, M. et al. (2024), Geochemistry, 84, 126045.
[5] Nakanishi, T. et al. (2015), Mining, Mater. Process. Instit. Japan, Abstr.
[6] Niederschalg, E. et al. (2003), Archeometry, 45, 61-100.