The Research On The Turquoise Of Jiahu Site

Turquoise is one of the most famous jades in ancient China.Early in the neolithic age it has been loved by the ancestors.The study of the archaeological excavation of turquoise products,can help us understand the living conditions,religious beliefs,social customs,processing techniques,craftsmanship and the other aspects of the ancient people.The exploration of the sources of turquoise minerals can reveal the activity scope and resource acquisition ability of ancient people.To some extent,it also reflect the resource strategies behind material transactions and cultural exchanges and their influences on the development process of civilization.The site of Jiahu is about 7500 to 9000 years old.During the eight excavations of the site,a large number of turquoise products have been unearthed.Compared with other sites that have been excavated with turquoise,Jiahu turquoise is not only the oldest,but also more abundant.Many valuable researches have been made on the turquoise excavated from Jiahu site by predecessors.However,as turquoise is increasingly unearthed,it is necessary to carry out further investigation and conduct further discussion based on the experimental results.In view of the limitation of samples used in previous studies and the conclusions are not statistically significant enough,thus in this study,the geometric scale and weight of unearthed turquoise from Jiahu site were measured,and the variation trend of these quantities was revealed by the box contrast diagram.Also,portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry(PXRF)was used for nondestructive testing of 279 pieces of turquoise.And principal component analysis(PCA)was performed on the obtained data by SPSS software.In addition,in order to explore the source of the turquoise,it was the first time to carry out field investigation in the area around Jiahu.PXRF analysis and X-ray diffraction spectrum analysis(XRD)were conducted on the mineral that we collected to determine its mineral composition and structure.This paper is divided into 6 chapters.Chapter 1 is the introduction,which introduces the origin and the significance of the topic,the current situation of turquoise research and the turquoise research of Jiahu site,the research contents and methods,the research objectives and innovation points.Chapter 2 summarizes the scientific research methods of turquoise,especially mineralogy.In Chapter 3,the quantity and shape of turquoise excavated from Jiahu site were counted,and the geometric scale and weight of 279 samples were tested.In Chapter 4,279 pieces turquoise samples from Jiahu site and 35 pieces modern turquoise samples from Hubei Zhushan were tested by portable X-ray fluorescence spectrum(PXRF),and principal component analysis was performed on the data results.Chapter 5 introduces the field investigation and the collection of mineral samples in the surrounding area of Jiahu.The selected samples were simply tested by PXRF,and the X-ray diffraction spectrum(XRD)analysis was conducted to determine the main mineral structure.Chapter 5 also discusses the sources of turquoise minerals unearthed in Jiahu site.Chapter 6 is the conclusion of this research and the prospect of further work.The analysis results of several experimental data in this study show that:with the advance of the stages,the quantity of turquoise unearthed from Jiahu site presents a tendency from a small amount to a sharp increase and then a sharp decrease,and the average geometric scale and weight are getting smaller and smaller.The turquoise excavated from Jiahu site is distinguishable from that in other areas.On the basis of its independence,there may be multiple mineral sources.The minerals in lushan area around Jiahu site contains phosphate,copper and aluminum,among which aluminum phosphate has been tested.The existence of these elements and minerals,to some extent,provides the geological conditions for the formation of turquoise ore and scientific basis for the assumption of the turquoise source was in Jiahu region.