<p>Exploring the exchange and trade paths of turquoise among Sanxingdui people, this study clarifies the communication and trade channels between Sanxingdui and other regions in China and explores underlying social issues in turquoise production and consumption areas. It focuses on the Sanxingdui site located in Guanghan City, where new “sacrificial pits” were discovered. Forty-one turquoise artifacts from Sanxingdui pits K5, K6, and K7 were examined—all thin flakes and predominantly rectangular in shape. Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (LA-ICP-AES) compositional analysis revealed that these turquoise pieces have a relatively high boron (B) content, falling into the category of boron-rich turquoise. Analytical testing and provenance tracing revealed that the samples were not derived from the Erlitou, Panlongcheng, Runlou, or Yinxu sites. They also show little correlation with turquoise sources from the Central Plains, with no exact match found between the Sanxingdui turquoise and that from currently known mineral sources or archaeological sites. This suggests that the turquoise source(s) of Sanxingdui may not have been discovered yet. Although the technology and concept of turquoise inlays originated in the Central Plains and were adopted in Sanxingdui, the raw materials used in Sanxingdui differed from those of the former. Further, Sanxingdui’s bronze wares drew on the creation concepts of the Central Plains but were transformed into unique content, with production technologies adopted while making modifications. The results highlight that to truly understand cultural interaction, it is necessary to adopt a hierarchical approach; classify artifacts by type; and integrate archaeology, art, and science and technology.</p>

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A provenance study of turquoise artifacts at the Sanxingdui site in Sichuan, China

  • Zeya Shang,
  • Jianfeng Cui,
  • Honglin Ran,
  • Chong Wang,
  • Zhenbin Xie,
  • Yu Lei,
  • Fei Tang,
  • Dengyi Zhang,
  • Haichao Li

摘要

Exploring the exchange and trade paths of turquoise among Sanxingdui people, this study clarifies the communication and trade channels between Sanxingdui and other regions in China and explores underlying social issues in turquoise production and consumption areas. It focuses on the Sanxingdui site located in Guanghan City, where new “sacrificial pits” were discovered. Forty-one turquoise artifacts from Sanxingdui pits K5, K6, and K7 were examined—all thin flakes and predominantly rectangular in shape. Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (LA-ICP-AES) compositional analysis revealed that these turquoise pieces have a relatively high boron (B) content, falling into the category of boron-rich turquoise. Analytical testing and provenance tracing revealed that the samples were not derived from the Erlitou, Panlongcheng, Runlou, or Yinxu sites. They also show little correlation with turquoise sources from the Central Plains, with no exact match found between the Sanxingdui turquoise and that from currently known mineral sources or archaeological sites. This suggests that the turquoise source(s) of Sanxingdui may not have been discovered yet. Although the technology and concept of turquoise inlays originated in the Central Plains and were adopted in Sanxingdui, the raw materials used in Sanxingdui differed from those of the former. Further, Sanxingdui’s bronze wares drew on the creation concepts of the Central Plains but were transformed into unique content, with production technologies adopted while making modifications. The results highlight that to truly understand cultural interaction, it is necessary to adopt a hierarchical approach; classify artifacts by type; and integrate archaeology, art, and science and technology.