横岭山商周时期玉器的质地、白化现象和玉料产地研究

为研究广东博罗横岭山商周时期墓地出土玉器的质地、白化现象和玉料产地,对玉料样品进行常规矿物学、红外光谱、X射线粉晶衍射、扫描电镜和拉曼光谱的测试。结果显示,该墓地出土玉器的材质包括石英、水晶、透闪石（软玉）和杂砂岩。其中,透闪石质的玉器呈白色、不透明的外观,被认为和酸性土壤的腐蚀有关;出土的石英质玉器（含水晶器）的包裹体特征及包裹体均一温度显示该墓地出土的石英质玉器（含水晶器）的玉料较可能来自变质石英岩。伟晶岩或高温石英脉,将其与博罗本地、台山地区（近环珠江口地区）的石英及水晶样品进行对比,未有证据显示该墓地出土的石英质玉器（含水晶器）的原料来自上述地区。本研究可为揭示商周时期珠江三角洲地区的先民对自然资源的认识和利用能力以及当时社会的生产力水平、物品交换及贸易路线等方面提供基础科学依据。     

应用热裂解气相色谱质谱技术对六种蛋白质类胶结材料的分析与鉴别

利用在线甲基化水解-裂解气相色谱质谱(THM-Py-GC/MS)技术对古代壁画、彩绘等文物中常用的骨胶、皮胶、鱼鳔胶、蛋清、蛋黄和猪血等六种蛋白质类胶结材料进行分析,采用盖蒂保护研究所开发的RAdICAL系统对谱图进行解析,总结了每类材料的特征裂解产物。研究表明,吡咯类化合物,特别是吡咯、二吡咯二酮和哌嗪二酮类化合物可以作为骨胶和皮胶的识别组分,鱼鳔胶的识别组分除了上述吡咯类化合物之外,还包括胆固醇类化合物。吲哚类、血/蛋清标记物、磷酸三甲酯、脯氨酸类化合物是蛋清的识别组分。除了含有蛋清的4种识别成分之外,猪血的识别成分还包括胆固醇类化合物。蛋黄的识别组分是磷酸三甲酯、蛋黄标记物和胆固醇类化合物。最后利用主成分分析法(PCA)对福建省泉州市安海县龙山寺千手观音佛像上脱落的膜状残片的数据和六种蛋白质类胶结材料的数据进行解读,确定了膜状残片的蛋白质类有机材料为动物胶(骨胶或皮胶)和蛋清,证明PCA是一种有效的降维和可视化方法。本研究利用PCA技术对THM-Py-GC/MS数据进行分析解读,且结果可信,为之后该技术的发展提供新的契机。     

徐州狮子山楚王陵出土金缕玉衣和镶玉漆棺的 玉料组分特征及产地来源研究

为了解西汉玉器的组分特征及玉料来源,利用显微放大观察结合电子探针、红外光谱、拉曼光谱和LA-ICP-MS技术,对徐州狮子山西汉楚王陵出土的部分玉片(玉衣片和玉棺片)样品进行了检测分析。检测结果表明:1)显微放大观察发现:出土玉片样品均含石墨包裹体,不可能来自不含石墨包裹体的福建南平闪石玉和江苏溧阳小梅岭闪石玉。2)电子探针结果显示:出土玉片样品为透闪石;出土玉片样品的ω(FeO)/%范围为0.287～0.925,不可能来自富Fe的玛纳斯闪石玉及贫Fe的的青海闪石玉;ω(Al_2O_3)/%远远高于河南栾川软玉。3)红外光谱分析显示:出土玉片样品为透闪石,与电子探针结果相符;玉片样品的M-OH伸缩振动谱带位置集中在3674cm~(-1)附近,说明玉料Mg含量较高。4)拉曼光谱分析显示:出土玉片样品具有和透闪石矿物共同的特征拉曼谱峰,为透闪石质软玉,与电子探针及红外光谱结果相符。5)LA-ICP-MS分析显示:出土玉衣片样品的稀土元素质量分数及分馏情况与辽宁岫岩闪石玉、四川汶川龙溪闪石玉及河南栾川闪石玉有所不同;Cr、Ni、Co含量较低,指示玉料来自热液交代型镁质大理岩型软玉矿床;Sr含量较低,排除了来自江苏溧阳小梅岭闪石玉的可能。分析结果表明,徐州狮子山楚王陵出土玉器玉料来源主要和新疆和田地区玉料有关;新疆和田地区的闪石玉至西汉早期已覆盖到楚文化区域,并且成为宫廷玉料的主流来源。     

Silver production at al‐Radrad: archaeometallurgical analysis of ore,slag and technical ceramics from early medieval Yemen

The zinc‐lead‐silver deposit of al‐Jabali, about 65 km north‐east of Sana'a in Yemen, has been identified as the location of the late antique/Islamic period silver mine al‐Radrad. Exploitation of the mine is known from the account of al‐Hamdani, an Arab geographer of the tenth century AD. The al‐Jabali area has been the focus of geological and archaeometallurgical surveys, and extensive metallurgical remains have been discovered. Samples of ore, slag and technical ceramics were collected for archaeometallurgical analysis. The technology of silver production is discussed in relation to the historical record, and elemental and lead isotope characterisation of ore and slag provides a basis for future provenance studies.     

Archaeometric Investigation of Medieval Pottery from Excavations at Novo Brdo,Serbia

Medieval pottery from excavations at Novo Brdo, Serbia, an important mining and trading centre during the 14th and 15th centuries, was investigated by a combination of optical microscopy, inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared, micro‐Raman and energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence spectroscopy and X‐ray powder diffraction methods in order to determine its composition and firing temperature. The samples investigated were made of medium‐ to coarse‐grained, non‐calcareous clay, by a relatively well‐controlled firing procedure in an oxidizing atmosphere. The firing temperature was estimated to be 850–950°C. The similarity between the chemical composition of the investigated pottery and the local raw clay, combined with the outward appearance and the archaeological findings, indicate domestic production. The pottery is covered with the transparent lead‐rich glaze. Iron and copper were used as colourants.     

Portuguese Blue‐on‐Blue 16th–17th Century Pottery

Blue‐on‐blue (‘berettino’) sherds have appeared in numerous production and consumption archaeological excavations in Lisbon and other archaeological sites in Portugal (dated from the mid‐16th century to the beginning of the 17th century). The abundance of this interesting faience led us to compare it with similar pottery from other well‐known production centres in Italy, namely Liguria (Savona and Albisola), Spain (the Triana kilns) and the Low Countries. Differences in the diffraction patterns of the sherds' pastes from the four countries were observed. In most samples, cobalt blue silicate (cobalt olivine) was identified in the dark blue or light blue glazes through the use of micro‐Raman spectroscopy and diffuse reflectance spectra. A remarkable difference in the calcite contents of the Lisbon and Seville pottery sherds was observed, in accordance with previous observations of high calcite contents of Seville ceramics. A comparison was also made for all of the blue‐on‐blue sherds studied here with many other 16th–17th century sherds from Lisbon using bivariate plots of K/Si versus Ca/Si. Lisbon and Seville pottery behave very differently, whereas sherds from Italy and the Low Countries occupy intermediate positions.     

The Social and Economic Complexity of Ancient Jerusalem as Seen Through Choices in Lighting Oils

This paper presents and discusses the results of residue analysis conducted on 78 ceramic lamps found in archaeological excavations in ancient Jerusalem, in an attempt to identify the types of oils used and the reasons for their preferential choice. The oil lamps chosen for the study were taken from a variety of contexts, which represent the different periods during which Jerusalem was settled and the different sectors of the city. The results of the study show that even the most mundane activity of lighting using oil held within it social and economic choices, as mirrored in the different excavation areas.     

Microstructural,chemical and isotopic evidence for the origin of late neolithic leather recovered from an ice field in the Swiss Alps

Archaeological leather samples recovered from the ice field at the Schnidejoch Pass (altitude 2756 m amsl) in the western Swiss Alps were studied using optical, chemical molecular and isotopic (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N of the bulk leather, and compound-specific δ¹³C analyses of the organic-solvent extracted fatty acids) methods to obtain insight into the origin of the leather and ancient tanning procedures. For comparison, leathers from modern native animals in alpine environment (red deer, goat, sheep, chamois, and calf/cow) were analyzed using the same approach. Optical and electron microscopically comparisons of Schnidejoch and modern leathers showed that the gross structure (pattern of collagen fibrils and intra-fibrils material) of archaeological leather had survived essentially intact for five millennia. The SEM studies of the hairs from the most important archaeological find, a Neolithic leather legging, show a wave structure of the hair cuticle, which is a diagnostic feature for goatskins. The variations of the bulk δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values, and δ¹³C values of the main fatty acids are within the range expected for pre-industrial temperate C₃ environment. The archaeological leather samples contain a mixture of indigenous (from the animal) and exogenous plant/animal lipids. An important amount of waxy n-alkanes, n-alkan-1-ols and phytosterols (β-sitosterol, sitostanol) in all samples, and abundant biomarker of conifers (nonacosan-10-ol) in the legging leathers clearly indicate that the Neolithic people were active in a subalpine coniferous forest, and that they used an aqueous extract of diverse plant material for tanning leather.     

The ‘Semblance of Immortality'? Resinous Materials and Mortuary Rites in Roman Britain

There is increasing evidence for complexity in mortuary practices in Britain during the Roman period. One class of burials demonstrates an association between inhumation in stone sarcophagi or lead‐lined coffins, ‘plaster’ coatings, textile shrouds and natural resins. It has been suggested that this ‘package’ represents a deliberate attempt at body preservation. Fragments with a resinous appearance found in one such burial from Arrington, Cambridgeshire, UK were analysed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The triterpenic compounds identified are biomarkers for the genus Pistacia and provide the first chemical evidence for an exotic resin in a mortuary context in Roman Britain.