On The Turquoise Products In The Xia And Shang Dynasties

During the Erlitou Culture period and Shang period, the use of turquoise products further prospered following the Neolithic period, when the use of the turquoise products enjoyed preliminary development. The study of turquoise products in the Erlitou Culture period and Shang period could provide basic data for an in-depth study of ancient turquoise and material culture.In this thesis, there are two different kinds of turquoise products-individual products and inlaid products. The most widely-used type of individual products is punched products, which have rectangular longitudinal-section, circular cross-section, and quadrilaterals without holes. The most widely-used type of inlaid products is inlaid bronzes.In terms of characteristics, the punch products of the Erlitou Culture period are more diversified while those of Shang Culture are richer in number and species of the products, both without holes and of the inlaid products. As for the regional features, turquoise products are concentrated in the Erlitou site during the Erlitou Culture period. It was possible that turquoise exchange existed between Erlitou site and its neighboring areas started from the third phase of the Erlitou Culture; in the peripheral sites of the Shang Culture, the distribution of the turquoise products was gradually declining and the types of the turquoise products tended to be singular, reflecting the Shang dynasty’s control of the use of turquoise.Judging from the hierarchy of burials, the use of turquoise products boasts higher proportion in upper-rank tombs during the Erlitou Culture period and Shang period. In the Shang period, the higher rank buries have, the higher percentages of the use of inlaid products, and the lower percentages of the use of products without holes, and vice versa.With regard to the location and function of individual products, turquoise products in the Erlitou Culture are usually placed on the heads and necks of tomb owners as earrings and necklaces, or as hat decorations. The placement of turquoise products becomes more varied during the Shang period:they were placed on the heads of tomb owners as headdress and hat decorations, or as decorations for other body parts.