Hostname: page-component-76c49bb84f-6sxsx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-07-07T10:16:36.219Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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

Information

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.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Aisin Gioro, Kungang & Li, Hongzhang. 1899. Official records of the Qing Dynasty, volume 1064. Taipei: Shin Wen Feng Print Co. (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Archaeological team at Sidun in Jiangsu. 1996. Fourth and fifth excavation of the Sidun site in Wujin, Jiangsu Province, in Huping, Xu (ed.) The light of Oriental civilization: collected works on the Liangzhu Culture to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the discovery of Liangzhu Culture: 42–56. Haikou: Hainan International News Publication Centre (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Chen, Tungho. 2008. A Raman spectroscopic study of heat-treated nephrite. Phase Transitions 81: 205–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411590701514367CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deer, W.A., Howie, R.A. & Zussman, J.. 1997. Rock-forming minerals, volume 2B: double-chain silicates. London: Geological Society.Google Scholar
Deng, Shuping. 2012. Treasures of mountains and rivers: the art of jade, in Jisheng, Guo (ed.) Characters of Chinese art: 172–229. Hefei: Huangshan Publishing House (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Fang, Xiangming. 2014. General history of Chinese jades: the volume of Neolithic jades in southern China. Guangdong: Haitian Press (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Heilongjiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology & Cultural Relic Management Institute of Raohe County. 2019. Brief report on the excavation of Area no. III at Xiaonanshan, Raohe County, Heilongjiang Province in 2015. Archaeology 8: 3–20 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Hu, Houxuan. 1999a. The annotation of collections of oracle bone inscriptions, volume I. Beijing: China Social Science Press (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Hu, Houxuan. 1999b. The annotation of collections of oracle bone inscriptions, volume III. Beijing: China Social Science Press (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Huang, Xuanpei. 2005. Research on the whitened jades of the Liangzhu Culture, in Museum, Shanghai (ed.) Collected papers of the Shanghai Museum, volume 10: 357–64. Shanghai: Shanghai Painting and Calligraphy Press (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Institute of Archaeology Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. 2007. A Shang-period tomb in the east of Huayuanzhuang site, Yinxu Ruins, Anyang City. Beijing: Science Press (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Liu, Bin, Wang, Ningyuan & Chen, Minghui. 2019. The importance of Liangzhu Culture and archaeology of Liangzhu City. China Cultural Relics News, 9 July 2019, p. 3 (in Chinese).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Lili & Guo, Junfeng. 2017. Scientific management of excavated cultural relics and creative utilisation of archaeological achievements. China Cultural Relics News, 22 September 2017, p. 7 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Nanjing Museum. 1981. Tentative excavation of Sidun in Wujin District, Jiangsu Province. Archaeology 3: 193–200 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Nanjing Museum. 1984. Excavation of Sidun, Wujin District, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province in 1982. Archaeology 2: 109–29 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Nanjing Museum. 1991. New archaeological achievements of Jiangsu Province in the last decade, in Editorial Committee of Cultural Relics (ed.) Archaeological work in the last decade (1979–1989): 101–15. Beijing: Cultural Relics Press (in Chinese).Google Scholar
People's Government of Zhejiang Province & The Palace Museum. 2019. Liangzhu and ancient China: five-thousand years of civilization revealed by jades. Beijing: Palace Museum Press (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Posnjak, E. & Bowen, N.L.. 1931. The role of water in tremolite. American Journal of Science 5–22: 203–14. https://doi.org/10.2475/ajs.s5-22.129.203CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Renfrew, C. & Liu, Bin. 2018. The emergence of complex society in China: the case of Liangzhu. Antiquity 92: 975–90. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2018.60CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sax, M. & Ji, Kunzhang. 2013. The technology of jades excavated at the Western Zhou, Jin Marquis cemetery, Tianma-Qucun, Beizhao, Shanxi Province: recognition of tools and techniques. Journal of Archaeological Science 40: 1067–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.08.041CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Management Committee, Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology & Cultural Bureau of Guanghan County, Sichuan Province. 1987. Brief report on the excavation of sacrificial pit no. 1 at Sanxingdui, Guanghan. Cultural Relics 10: 1–15 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Management Committee, Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology & Cultural Bureau of Guanghan County, Sichuan Province. 1989. Brief report on the excavation of sacrificial pit no. 2 at Sanxingdui, Guanghan. Cultural Relics 5: 1–20 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Sun, Yirang. 1987. The annotation of Zhouli. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Wang, Rong. 2017. Review of the whitening mechanism of ancient tremolite-actinolite jade artifacts. Sciences of Conservation and Archaeology 4: 88–100 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Wang, Rong. 2020. Archaeometry and conservation of early Chinese jade. Shanghai: Fudan University Press (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Wang, Rong & Tian, Yaqi. 2020. Empirical study of burnt jade sacrifices from Xuechi, Yongshan, Fengxiang District. Archaeology and Cultural Relics 6: 98–103 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Wang, Rong, Wang, Changsui & Tang, Jigen. 2018. A jade parrot from the tomb of Fu Hao at Yinxu and Liao sacrifices of the Shang Dynasty. Antiquity 92: 362–82. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2017.220CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Zhennan & Wang, Rong. 2022. Study on burnt jade sacrifices in oracle bone inscriptions. Cultural Relics of Central China 2: 88–95 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Wang, Zunguo. 1992. Review of the buried jades from Sidun, Wujin District, Jiangsu Province, in Editorial Committee of Collections of Nanjing Museum (ed.) Collections of Nanjing Museum: 96–97. Shanghai: Shanghai Literature and Art Press (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Yang, Jing. 2017. Exploration of primitive jade-cutting technology. Popular Archaeology 10: 45–49 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Zhai, Shengli. 2011. Tentative discussion of the tradition of destroying items in the Shang Dynasty. Journal of National Museum of China 3: 123–32 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Zhao, Shanrong. 2017. Crystallography and mineralogy. Beijing: Higher Education Press (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Wang et al. supplementary material

Wang et al. supplementary material

Download Wang et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 269.9 KB