沣西西周玉器地质考古学研究——中国古玉地质考古学研究之三

A GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY OF ANCIENT CHINESE JADE: Ⅲ. WESTERN ZHOU JADE FROM FENGXI

陕西长安沣西张家坡是西周重要遗址,八十年代,中国社会科学院考古研究所沣西发掘队又在这里进行了多次考古发掘。在以往对现代玉及古玉研究认识的基础上,就中国社会科学院考古研究所提供的沣西玉器样品,进行了方法研究及样品分析测试鉴定研究。现将方法研究及玉器样品研究鉴定结果与有关问题讨论,择要说明如下。

Jade is the characteristic mineral marking the development of ancient Chinese culture. True jade used popularly in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages is nephrite, It can be categoried into two type(?) with different geologic occurrences, i.e. nephrite in magnesian marble and that in serpentinized ultrabasic rocks. And nephrite produced in the mainland of China belongs mainly to the former, whileas that in other areas of the world, to the latter. In the present paper, mineralogical study is carried out on 40 jade articles representative in material and form, selected from the more than 1000 jades unearthed from the Fengxi site of the Western Zhou period (12th—8th c. BC). The composition is determined essentially by means of roomtemperature absorption infrared spectra, and the microstructure is observed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The sample applied to the two techniques is small in quantity, about 1mg for both. Based on these analyses, further analogy is made on unsampled jade articles through macroscopic identification. The jade objects from Fengxxi are dominanyl made of true jade (nephrite), occasionaily of pseudojade and 3 species of hemijade-intergrowth of nephrite and pseudojade. The material of the Fengxi jades is predominantly nephrite in magnesian marble, which contain also information about the localities of nephrite production known so far in the mainland of China. Furthermore, the paper discusses that the social hierarchic system stated in the Record of the Rites of the Zhou Dynastys-Jade Human Figures, in which the society was rigidly stratified as represented in the use of jade assem blages varying in the proportion of true jade to pseudojade, really existed in ancient China.