Geological Language in Liangzhu Jades

Abstract:

Liangzhu Culture is world-famous for a large number of exquisite nephrite artifacts， but the provenance of nephrite materials has been a considerable controversy over the past several decades， which is one of the keys to judging whether Liangzhu Culture is a native civilization. In addition to social attributes， nephrite， as a mineral resource， is a result of special geological processes at first， indicating that Earth science is an important part of researches of ancient jades. In combination with mineral characteristics， textures， and chemical compositions of Liangzhu jades， this paper deciphers the geological information from the ideologies and methods of Earth science and discusses an affinity between Xiaomeiling nephrite and nephrites used in Liangzhu Culture， supporting the native origin of Liangzhu Culture.