Research The Identification Of Dyestuffs In Ancient Silks Unearthed From Wet Tombs

Silk is one of the vital inventions in ancient China.The dyeing process represents is the ancient Chinese wisdom of working people.The technology of dyeing had a profound effect on the development of Chinese civilization.By experiencing thousand-years of burying,silks had highly influenced by various factors in the grave,especially in wet burial environment.Because of the destruction of the dye compositions,it became very hard to identify the dye of the silks excavated in wet graves.However,the identification of the dyestuff is the basis of the research on ancient dyeing technology and the premise of the protection and restoration of cultural relics.So far,there have been a lot of works on dyestuff identification both domestic and overseas,but the problems still exist.There were numerous silks unearthed in wet environment in China,the lack of the identification caused the loss of archaeological value.Mass fingerprinting analysis was applied to the dyestuff identification,in consideration of the complicated condition of the silks unearthed in wet graves.The dyestuff information was analyzed by mass spectrum.Dyestuff is consist of various dyeing components.The differences about the dyeing compositions among various kinds of vegetable dyes were obvious.The dyestuff information of the ancient silks obtained by mass spectrum was compared with the information of simulations,and the preliminary findings were speculated according to the comparison of the results.The type of dyestuff of the ancient silks was obtained on the basis of the results of mass fingerprinting analysis and MS/MS.The kind of analysis method was used to analyze many ancient samples such as silk of the Warring States Period,thin of Liao Dynasty unearthed from Fakuyemaotai of Liaoning Province,stain of Ming Dynasty unearthed from Wuxi and the coffin liquid of Qing Dynasty.Therefore,with the aids of the results,the levels of the dyeing process at different periods were hypothesized.The silk of Warring States Period was black and a typical one which was unearthed from wet sites and lost information seriously.The results of the mass fingerprinting analysis indicated that there were five components in the sample,the molecular formulas of which were same as the madder's.Analysis results of mass fingerprinting and MS/MS concluded that the dyestuff of the sample was madder and the original color maybe red.Mass fingerprinting analysis was used to analyze the organic thin of Liao Dynasty.Although the main pigment of the red dyestuff which was brazilein was not detected,the other information could prove that the original dyestuff was Sappanwood.At the same time,berberine,jateorhizine,palmatine were detected from the sample.So it's indicated that the silk was dyed by protoberberine alkaloid dyes and Sappanwood.The research findings about the stain of Ming Dynasty showed that original dyestuff was flavonoid dye.Due to lack of the other information,the type of the dyestuff couldn't confirm.In the wet tombs,the components of the dyestuff could move to the environment from the fiber with the help of the water.The coffin liquid of Qing Dynasty was analyzed and two kinds of composition were detected.The results of the molecular formulas detection were the same as the turmeric's.In the article,mass fingerprinting analysis was applied to the identification of dyestuff of the silks unearthed from wet graves.The identification results,in particular the perfect results about the silk of the Warring States Period,proved that the method was suited to analyze the ancient silks.Except for the silks,the method could also Be used for obtaining information from the burial environment such as water.