Nephrite Jade Mapping in Southeast Asian Prehistory: Petrological and Mineralogical Study of Stone 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.

On-site and laboratory geochemical analyses have been carried out on jade and jade-like artifacts including unfinished pieces in the mainland of Southeast Asia by p-XRF and SEM-EDS respectively. In Vietnam, the results from more than 100 analyses show that the lingling-Os and double animal-headed pendants from central Vietnam are made of various colors of nephrite. So far only two lingling-Os show geochemical fingerprints of Taiwan’s green nephrite. On the other hand, slit rings and a lot of worked disks are made of tremolitic white nephrite from northern Vietnam. Up to now, in Myanmar, 15 worked disks and bangles are made of actinolitic (green) nephrite from stone workshop and settlement sites in the central plain area. In Thailand, actinolitic nephrite artifacts were recognized from the Malay Peninsula area. A series of geochemical analysis indicates that there were at least two major nephrite sources that existed in prehistoric Vietnam, excluding Taiwan’s green nephrite. And at least a potential nephrite source is expected from the metamorphic geological region in northern Myanmar. Some results may suggest long-distance and multiple cultural interactions were occurring in mainland Southeast Asian Prehistory.

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)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23775