This paper attempts to draw together some of the literary and archaeometallurgical evidence pointing to cross-cultural interactions and encounters in the use and occurrence of metals and alloys in the Indian subcontinent broadly in the 1st millennium BCE to the early common era, spanning the Iron Age to early historic period. As is generally known, aspects of the material culture of this period shows discernible external influences, such as from the Grecian, Hellenistic or Persian world, central Asia as seen in some examples of statuary, coinage and jewellery and so on. However, there are other examples which this paper aims to highlight of certain finds from the Indian context which seem to be more distinctive to the Indian region as also corroborated by evidence and accounts from the Hellenistic world. In particular the specialised alloy of wrought and forged high-tin beta (23%) bronze vessels provides an interesting case study, with the author’s archaeometallurgical investigations pointing to finds from the South Indian and peninsular Indian Iron Age of the early 1st millennium BCE (Adichanallur, Nilgiri, Mahurjhari, Taxila, Fig. 1), ranking amongst the earliest known such vessels, as well as continuing traditions (Srinivasan and Glover 1995, Srinivasan 2010). Some Southeast Asian examples of the latter part of the first millennium also show Indian connections in design suggesting an Indian provenance. Sassanian examples of about the 7th century are also known. This paper attempts to thus explore cross-cultural influences in the Indian examples, and the ways in which high-tin bronzes seem to have eventually become part of the wider Asian network of trade and interaction in antiquity.

中文翻译：

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印度高锡青铜器与希腊和波斯世界

本文试图汇集一些文学和考古学的证据，这些证据和证据表明跨文化的相互作用以及在公元前1世纪到印度早期普遍存在于铁器时代的印度次大陆中金属和合金在使用和发生中的遭遇。到历史早期。众所周知，这一时期的物质文化表现出明显的外部影响，例如来自希腊，希腊或波斯世界，中亚的雕像，造币和珠宝等等。但是，本文还有其他一些例子，旨在突出印度背景下的某些发现，这些发现似乎对印度地区更具特色，同时也得到了希腊化世界的证据和记载的证实。特别是锻造和锻造的高锡beta（23％）青铜器皿的特殊合金提供了一个有趣的案例研究，作者的考古学研究指出了公元前1世纪初期南印度和半岛印度铁器时代的发现（Adichanallur ，Nilgiri，Mahurjhari，Taxila，图1），是已知的此类船只中最早的，也是沿袭至今的传统（Srinivasan和Glover，1995； Srinivasan，2010）。第一个千年后半期的一些东南亚例子也表明，印度在设计上的联系暗示了印度的出处。也知道约7世纪的萨桑例子。因此，本文试图在印度的例子中探索跨文化的影响，