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Burnt jade sacrifices in the Chinese Neolithic: the Liangzhu cemetery at Sidun

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2022

Rong Wang ,
Yunyi Mai  and
Liugen Lin
Rong Wang
Affiliation:
Department of Cultural Heritage and Museology, Fudan University, Shanghai, P.R. China
Yunyi Mai
Affiliation:
Guangdong Provincial Station for Cultural Relics Identification, Guangdong, P.R. China
Liugen Lin*
Affiliation:
School of Art and Archaeology, Zhejiang University, P.R. China
*
*Author for correspondence ✉ linliugen110@163.com
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Abstract

Oracle bone inscriptions of the late Shang Dynasty (1250–1046 BC) record the burning of jade as a ceremonial sacrifice, a practice now corroborated archaeologically. The origins of ceremonial jade burning, however, are unclear. Using archaeometric methods and experimental archaeology, the authors examine an assemblage of jade objects from the late Liangzhu-period (2600–2300 BC) cemetery of Sidun. The cause of the jades’ variable surface colours has been long debated. The results presented here demonstrate that the colour changes relate to alterations in chemical composition due to exposure to fire. The evidence from Sidun confirms that the burning of jade in China commenced more than a millennium earlier than previously documented.

Keywords

ChinaNeolithicLiangzhu Culturefunerary archaeologyjadeexperimental archaeology
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 96 , Issue 390 , December 2022 , pp. 1495 - 1514
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd.

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