Analysis of the materials and sources of jade and stone artifacts unearthed from the Daxi Site in Wushan County, Chongqing
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(1. Gemmological Institute, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), Wuhan 430074, China;2. Chongqing Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Chongqing 400014, China;3. Gem Testing Center, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), Wuhan 430074, China;4. College of Humanities, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471023, China)

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    Abstract:

    The Daxi Site, located in Daxi Village, Daxi Township, Wushan County, Chongqing, is one of the “Top 100 Archaeological Discoveries of the Century” and has yielded dozens of jade and stone artifacts with distinctive jade features of the Neolithic Daxi culture. To investigate the materials and sources of these jade and stone artifacts, 62 objects were analyzed. Surface characteristics, degree of patination, and density were preliminarily examined using conventional gemmological tools such as a 10× magnifying lens and an electronic balance. Raman spectrometry, X-ray powder diffraction, and other analytical methods were then applied for material identification. The results show that:1) conventional instrumental testing combined with spectrometric methods could effectively distinguish the materials for unearthed jade and stone artifacts—among the 62 artifacts:50 were marble, 2 serpentinite, 3 quartzite, 2 marlstone, 1 jet, 3 clamor shellfish, and 1 bone (calcium phosphate); 2) the artifacts included rings, beads, cores, pendants, stone axes, and smashed stone pieces, mainly for decorative purposes. Overall, the samples displays mixed materials and relatively lower quality—no high-quality jade and stone artifacts such as tremolite was detected. This aligns with the limited jade resources in the Daxi culture region. Comparison between the jade resources around the Three Gorges area and those from other cultural contexts suggested that marble artifacts were likely acquired locally, while materials such as jet were obtained through long-distance exchange. These findings provide new evidence for understanding jade utilization and cultural exchange in the Wushan Daxi culture.

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History
  • Received:July 12,2024
  • Revised:September 29,2024
  • Adopted:
  • Online: November 06,2025
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