考古发现所见两汉琥珀印探述

An investigation of the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties amber seals found through archaeological excavations

琥珀制品在两汉时期风靡一时,琥珀印在琥珀制品中颇具特色。本文在对中国境内考古发现所见两汉琥珀印资料收集与整理的基础上,对其出土地域、自身特征、出土位置及伴出物品等问题进行了探讨。研究表明出土琥珀印的墓葬等级较高,且出土位置特殊,并伴随有水晶、玛瑙、海蓝宝等贵重宝石。这些宝石的产地可能源自南亚或东南亚地区,而这类随葬品在两汉墓葬中的流行亦体现了当时物质交流的成果。

Amber products were once extremely popular during the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties.Amber seals were amongst the distinctive amber products during this period.This article collects and analyses Western and Eastern Han Dynasties amber seals that have been found in China to date.Based on these data,it further investigates the geographic distributions,characteristics,discovery contexts and other artefacts associated with them.This research shows that amber seals were found mostly in high-rank tombs.They were placed in special spaces in these tombs and buried together with precious stones such as crystals,carnelians and aquamarines.These previous stones might have come from South or Southeast Asia and their presence in the Han Dynasty tombs was an outcome of material culture exchange between China and these places during the time.