In Early China 2 (1976: 31-34) David N. Keightley published a review a r t i c l e , with the same t i t l e as this brief communication (though more c i rcumspectly cast in the interrogative mode), of the recent work by Noel Barnard and Sato Tamotsu, Metallurgical Remains of Ancient China. I was prompted to reply to his piece, not because I possessed then, or have since acquired, any arcane knowledge of what has actually happened to the arsenals of two millennia ago, but because I have, myself,, devoted some time during the past two decades to the central question he posed and believe i t s consideration to contain some complexities unexposed by Professor Keightley's review. This note is actually a reworking of my letter to Professor Keightley and Its general frame of reference is taken from his work.