Wuwei Bronze Cannon

This 100 cm (39 in) long, 108 kg (238 lb) bronze cannon was discovered in a cellar in Wuwei, Gansu Province.

It bears no inscription, but has been dated by historians to the late Western Xia period between 1214 and 1227 through contextual evidence.

[2] Ben Sinvany and Dang Shoushan believe that the ball used to be much larger prior to its highly corroded state at the time of discovery.

A similar weapon was discovered not far from the discovery site in 1997, but is much smaller in size at only 1.5 kg (3.3 lb).

[5] Sinologist Joseph Needham and renaissance siege expert Thomas Arnold provide a more conservative estimate of around 1280 for the appearance of the "true" cannon.

The Wuwei Bronze Cannon , a 108 kg bronze cannon dated to the late Western Xia (1214–1227), it bears no production date inscription and the dating is based on contextual evidence