Geological Knowledge about Jadeite Jade (Jadeitite) for the Study of Jadeitite Artifacts

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Two Approaches to Archaeological Jades: Source Characterization and Social Valuation" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Jadeite jade (jadeitite) is an important material for archeological objects from the middle Jōmon period (~5000–3500 BCE) through the Kofun period (250–710 CE) in Japan. During the last two decades, in the field of geological science, studies of jadeitite worldwide have brought new knowledge about its origin, formation, and regional characteristics. Multiple trace-elements and stable isotope characterization for jadeitite becomes increasingly important to understand the geological process of jadeitite formation in past subduction zones, where an oceanic plate dives beneath a continental plate. Moreover, a large amount of data via in-situ analytical techniques and new experimental data has begun to allow to a statistical-mechanical analysis. All new descriptions and U–Pb geochronology using zircon in jadeitite have a great potential to revisit source materials of jadeitite artifacts in Japanese archaeological cultures. In this paper, we will give a perspective overview on an interdisciplinary approach for the study of jadeitite artifacts.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Two Approaches to Archaeological Jades: Source Characterization and Social Valuation   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22905