Turquoise Mine and Artefact Correlation for Some Bronze Age Archaeological Sites in Hubei Province, China

Abstract

In China, there are places that are rich in gem-quality turquoise resources, including north-west Hubei Province and the nearby Baihe County in Shaanxi Province, and many ancient mining sites, although the mining history remains a mystery. Based on the compositional data from reference samples of known deposits, a comparison of the major and trace element contents of archaeological turquoise may help with determination of artefact provenance. This paper discusses new evidence of provenance-tracking of turquoise in this area, obtained from geochemical analyses using REE and other trace elements of 22 turquoises and their surrounding rock samples from six ancient mines and three archaeological sites. The results indicate that the three archaeological turquoises from the tomb of the Middle Spring and Autumn Period (580–560 bc) and the Warring States Period (476–221 bc) in Hubei Province were made of raw material from north-west Hubei Province and the nearby Baihe County in Shaanxi Province. [Correction added on 29 October 2014, after first online publication: In the preceding sentence, the correct dates for the Middle Spring and Autumn Period, and the Warring States Period have been added]