A study on the Neolithic turquoises in China

The turquoise objects of the Neolithic Age in China are mainly unearthed in the seven regions: the Central Plains, the Haidai cultural zone, the Gansu-Qinghai-Ningxia region, the Northern Frontier Zone, the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the lower reach of the Yangtze River and the South China. Their main functions are ornaments and burial objects, and their distribution was expanding constantly from the early to the late Neolithic Age: in the early period, they were only seen in the Central Plains and the Northern Frontier Zone; down to the late period, they were found in all of the seven regions. The forms and types of the turquoise objects were changing from simple to complex and from single object to parts and adornments inlayed or attached to other objects. At the beginning, the manufacturing techniques were relatively simple, but the engraving skill appeared. The turquoise objects were mainly unearthed from burials; when they just emerged, they were not the symbols of the statuses, positions and the wealth as well as genders and ages of the tomb occupants. However, during the Longshan Age, in some regions the turquoise was attached to some exquisite utensils or implements which might be used as ritual instruments, and began to become symbols of statuses and ranks, which was the most obvious in the Haidai area. As for the resources of the turquoise, it is still to be explored that they were imported from the peripheral area of present-day China or obtained locally.