Research On Turquoise Products In The Western Zhou Dynast

Turquoise product contains plenty of social information,through which we can acknowledge ancient handicrafts development,hierarchy,gender differences and so on.Throughout the previous research I found that the studies of turquoise products in the Western Zhou period mostly focus on a certain region or a single site,further research is needed to systematically discuss the development of turquoise products in the Western Zhou period.In addition,although the development of pre-Qin turquoise products has been clearer,its development stages and characteristics still need to be compared in depth.This paper takes the turquoise products of the Western Zhou period as the research object and classifies them into four categories using the archaeological typology method.Based on this,the differences in the types and quantities of turquoise products among different ranks,genders,regions and periods are discussed using the comparative analysis method,and the reasons are explored.With regard to the difference in rank,all of people could be buried with turquoise products during the Western Zhou period,however the ornaments adhered to turquoise were concentrated in high-ranking tombs,while beadrolls were common in low-ranking tombs.In addition,the proportion of males with high social status used turquoise product is higher than males with low social status.In terms of gender differences,a higher proportion of males were buried with the ornaments adhered to turquoise during the Western Zhou period,while females were buried with beadrolls more commonly and in larger quantities.At the same time,it is more common for men to be buried with inlaid turquoise weapons,while women are mostly buried with inlaid turquoise bone matrices.In terms of spatial and temporal characteristics,turquoise products were widely distributed during the Western Zhou period,and turquoise products were found in most of the vassal states,among which Xue and Jin were buried with a wider range of tomb owners’ identity levels.Combined with the research results of scholars,the overall decline of beadrolls during the Western Zhou period suggests that it may be related to the appearance of a large number of agate beads in China from the 10th century B.C.-7th century B.C.,and the sharp decrease in attached ornaments may be related to the change of the ritual system during the Zhou dynasty.In addition,by systematically combing the development of turquoise products in the pre-Qin period,I found that the Western Zhou period was the lowest point in the development of pre-Qin turquoise products,and the ornaments adhered to turquoise was a major innovation in the Western Zhou period.