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Analyzing the Shang-Western Zhou Dynasty pottery from the Jinsha Site with multi-technique method

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Abstract

Pottery shards for daily use excavated from the Jinsha Site, a well-known archeological site in China, dated to the period from the late Shang Dynasty to the Western Zhou Dynasty (B.C. 1200–B.C. 771) in ancient China, were analyzed by making use of wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WDXRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy (RS). The results show that these pottery shards are mainly composed of SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, K2O, P2O5, Na2O, TiO2 and CaO, as well as characterized by quartz (α-SiO2), feldspar (K- and NaAlSi3O8), calcite (CaCO3) and amorphous carbon. These pottery shards from different periods are similar in elemental composition and content, which probably suggests that there is not much difference in the raw materials used to produce these potteries for daily use. The identification of calcite indicates that the firing temperature of these potteries for daily use was probably less than 800 ℃, which implies that this type of pottery was probably fired in an open fire. The use of open firing method shows that the production technology of firing pottery for daily use was not advanced during the Shang and Zhou Dynasty. The complete study of these pottery shards is benefited by the application of multi-technique analytical method, which contributes to better understand the composition, the characteristic of the raw materials and firing method of pottery and provides the preliminary information for studying on the connection and difference of the pottery production technology between the Jinsha and Sanxingdui Site.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The fund offered by Sichuan Science and Technology Program (project no. 2020ZDZX0004), China, is appreciated. Professor Jun Tang for his help in the XRD analysis, and Professor Guangxi Wang, Senior engineer Jiang Cheng and Mr. Xuejiang Wang for the help in the XRF analysis and the Professor Li Lei, Dr. Caishou Lin, Mr. Liping Luo and PhD student WenXue Li for their help in the Raman spectroscopy analysis are acknowledged. The Chengdu Center of China Geological Survey, the Analytical and Testing Center of Sichuan University are appreciated for the help in the analyses of XRF, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Radiation Physics and Technology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, China

    Yuanjun Xu, Zhu An & Ning Huang

  2. School of History and Culture, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, China

    Deyun Zhao

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  1. Yuanjun Xu
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Correspondence to Zhu An.

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Xu, Y., An, Z., Huang, N. et al. Analyzing the Shang-Western Zhou Dynasty pottery from the Jinsha Site with multi-technique method. Eur. Phys. J. Plus 136, 962 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-021-01952-5

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