The Warring States period faience beads excavated from Majiayuan Cemetery: characterization and new insights

Abstract

In 2006, the Majiayuan Cemetery of the Warring States period (475 BCE to 221 BCE) was discovered in Zhangjiachuan county of Gansu province, northwest China. The thousands of exquisite gold/silver artifacts, bronze wares, potteries, and beads unearthed, and have attracted great interest when investigating the dynamics of exchange, mobility, and transcultural encounters in Eurasian artifacts. During the excavation, plenty of blue and purple faience beads were found arranged around the tomb owner in grave M52. Faience beads of the same style unearthed from other graves of the region indicate their mature production at the time of burials. By adopting scientific methods for the chemical and compositional characterization of the faience beads, this study explained their materials and production techniques and provided new insights into faience production in the late Warring States period.