A 16th CENTURY TRADING BOOK AS A SOURCE OF MINERALOGICAL KNOWLEDGE

Торговая книга XVI в. рассмотрена в качестве самостоятельного источника с целью изучения характера минералогических познаний, существовавших у наших предков в XVI-XVII вв. Выполнено сопоставление камней, упоминаемых в книге, с реальными минералами, в т. ч. на основе анализа упоминаемых минералогических характеристик. Отмечено, что в памятнике описываются, прежде всего, реальные минералогические свойства, в отличие от современных ему «лечебников» и «травников», а также памятников официальной и отреченной книжности. В качестве основного приема для отличия наиболее дорогих камней от менее ценных использовалось такое свойство как твердость. Это свойство минералов и сейчас широко применяется для их диагностики на основе 10-балльной шкалы твердости Мооса. Автор Торговой книги предлагает использовать для определения наиболее дорогих минералов своеобразные «эталоны» - обломки достоверных драгоценных камней (яхонт, лал, изумруд). Весьма важно упоминание наждака как материала для обработки ювелирных камней. В совокупности с находками необработанных ювелирных камней в слоях XVI-XVII вв. это подтверждает наличие собственных мастерских по их обработке. A trading book of the 16th century was analyzed as a separate source with a view of exploring the nature of mineralogical knowledge that our ancestors living in the 16th-17th centuries had. The analysis included comparison of the stones mentioned in the book with genuine minerals including review of the listed mineralogical characteristics. The paper notes that the book describes primarily true mineralogical properties in contrast to books of home remedies and books of herbal cures as well as books of official and prohibited booklore. The main method to distinguish between the most precious stones and less valuable ones is based on analysis of stone hardness. This mineral property is still widely used for their diagnostics based on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, with scale number from 1 to 10. The author of the trading book suggests to use special “standards” for determining the most precious minerals such as fragments of true gemstones (jachont, lal, and emerald). It is rather important that he mentions emery as material for processing precious stones. Along with the finds of unprocessed gemstones in the layers of the 16th<-17th centuries it is an evidence of existence of jewelry workshops.

Landslide Process Revealed by Mineralogical Properties of Landslide Deposits in the Sa Pa District, Vietnam

Hau Thao Village is located in Sa Pa Prefecture, in northern Vietnam. The village contains one of the most picturesque landscapes with terraced paddy fields located in landslide topography formed on a gentle slope. However, the creation of the topography has not been sufficiently clarified. In this study, samples of soil and stone are taken from two landslide areas in Hau Thao Village for mineral composition analysis, clarifying that the sauce rock of the deposits comprising the landslide areas is made up of granitoids, forming the upper slope above the fault located in the hinterland. The landslides occurring in Hau Thao Village are caused by the remobilization of the secondary deposits transported from the upper part of the slope by debris flow.