Material Characteristic and Origin Determination of Jade Unearthed from Xincun Cemetery Dated to Eastern Zhou Dynasty in Shayang, Hubei Province

A batch of jade artifacts with obvious Chu style dated from mid to late Warring States period were unearthed in 2020 from Xincun cemetery in Shayang, Hubei Province. These artifacts include jade "Huang", jade rings, jade "Liu", jade pendants, jade tubes, jade beads, etc. By combining non-destructive and near-non-destructive testing methods including X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), infrared spectroscopy (IR), and laser Raman spectroscopy (Raman), the chemical composition and vibration spectrum analysis of 36 unearthed jade pieces (sets) were conducted, and their origins were preliminarily explored. The results show that among the 36 pieces (sets) of jade unearthed from the Xincun cemetery, there are 4 pieces of nephrites, 19 pieces (sets) of mica jades, 3 pieces of agates, 2 pieces of bone material, and 8 pieces (sets) of glass. The rare earth element distribution curve, lower total rare earth content, Eu negative anomaly, and slight Ce negative anomaly of a blue white jade ring sample reflect that this jade may have originated from Xinjiang, Qinghai, or Gansu, and nephrite samples containing a large amount of star-shaped graphite secondary minerals may have originated from Xinjiang, Qinghai, or Liaoning. The proportion of mica jade in jade materials is about 55%, with various shapes and generally larger sizes. However, most of them have poor texture, rough craftsmanship, with high Si content, and slightly lower K content. There are residual dissolution like mica phenocrysts inside the jade material, suggesting that it should be a local raw material of metasomatic origin in Hubei. There are two types of dragonfly eye beads: lead barium glass and sodium calcium glass. The former is characterized by high Pb (8.12%-14.77%), Ba (14.49%-20.08%), and Cu (4.51%-7.56%), which are locally produced in Hubei; The latter is characterized by high Na (Na2O: 10.9%-11.9%), Ca (CaO: 5.84%-6.25%), and Sb (1.75%-2.28%), which were introduced from the West. The nephrite jade "Huang" unearthed from the Xincun cemetery comes from the tomb M1 of the lower officials, and the mica jade, agate, and glass ware all come from the tomb M2 of the madam. The use of these traditional non "real jade" materials reflects the tomb owner's view of using other stones instead of jade for burial due to financial constraints and status.