In every culture, bronze was the first alloyed metal to be used for daily life. In the west of the Eurasian continent, bronze items were in most cases used for agriculture and warfare. In China, the greatest part of discovered and preserved bronze items was not forged to ploughs or swords but cast to sacrificial vessels. The oldest bronze findings are 3500 years old. The strong religious sense of bronze objects brought up a great number of vessel types and shapes which became so typically that their shadows could be found in receptacles with other materials like wood, jade, ivory or even gold until the 20th century. The ritual books of old China minutely describe who was allowed to use what kinds of sacrificial vessels and how much. The king of Zhou was favored to use 9 dings and 8 guis vessels, a duke was allowed to use 7 dings and 6 guis, a baron could use 5 dings and 3 guis, a nobleman was allowed to use 3 dings and 2 guis.