Provenancing eastern Zhou proto-porcelain wares in the circum-Tai region. (February 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Zequn; Xiong, Yingfei; Zheng, Jianming; Wang, Xiaoqi; Zhou, Jianzhong; Chen, Jie; Zhao, Dongsheng; Zhang, Zhaogen; Li, Yongjun; He, Hansheng; Si, Hongwei; Huang, Dujun; Zhang, Liangren
• Is Part Of: Journal of archaeological science. Volume 29(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-02
• Subjects: The circum-Tai region -- Proto-porcelain -- Eastern Zhou -- Provenance -- Circulation -- X-ray fluorescence spectrometry; Archaeology -- Periodicals; Archaeology -- Research -- Periodicals; 930.1
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102179
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2352-409X

Abstract

Highlights: The production and circulation of proto-porcelain wares of the Eastern Zhou period are examined. 43 samples from settlements and tombs, and 15 samples from production sites are analyzed. The majority of the samples from settlements and tombs is convergent with those from production sites. Lake Tai and river valleys appear to constitute a self-contained network of production and circulation. Abstract: The circum-Tai region has constituted an important cultural region since the Neolithic Age (5100-2000BC). It is also the most concentrated area of production and consumption of proto-porcelain wares in China; a large number of proto-porcelain wares have been discovered in settlements and cemeteries around the lake; large and enduring clusters of proto-porcelain production sites have been discovered in the Dongtiaoxi River valley in the southern coast. Where were the products of the sites circulated? Where were the wares found in the settlements and cemeteries imported from? This paper will approach these questions by examining samples of Eastern Zhou proto-porcelain wares from this region with the dual methods of typological and chemical analyses. Samples of Eastern Zhou proto-porcelain wares from settlements and tombs in the northern and eastern coasts can be typologically classified into group A and group B. Group A samples are formally reminiscient of those unearthed from the production sites in the Dongtiaoxi River valley, whereas Group B samples are somewhat distinct, although similarities to them are observable as well. The chemical composition of the glaze and body of the samples confirms this classification. Group A samples are compositionally close to the products of, and probably produced in, the Longshan cluster in the middle Dongtiaoxi River; Group B samples are different from them, characterized by high potassium and high barium in body, and close to those of the production site at Nanshan of the Qingshan cluster in the lower Dongtiaoxi River; they may have been produced there. It appears that products of the production sites of the two clusters were circulated over the water surface of Lake Tai and further into the river valleys around it; Wuxi and Suzhou may have served as redistribution centers for the northern coast.