Study on the provenance of an amber ornament unearthed from Tomb M75 of the Northern Wei Dynasty at Shangmiao cemetery,Xitou site,Xunyi County,Shaanxi Province
Study on the provenance of an amber ornament unearthed from Tomb M75 of the Northern Wei Dynasty at Shangmiao cemetery,Xitou site,Xunyi County,Shaanxi Province
Tomb M75 at Xitou site,Xunyi County,Shaanxi Province belongs to the middle period of the Northern Wei Dynasty,and the tomb owner may have come from a nomadic Xianbei group living on the northern edge of the Guanzhong Basin.Inside the coffin chamber of the tomb,a round cap-shaped amber ornament was found around the tomb owner's head area,which may have been used as part of a headdress or necklace.Similar amber ornaments were excavated in Datong,Shanxi Province and have only been found at Xianbei tombs so far.They may be related to the specific group of people,concepts or functions,which deserve further attention.In this study,this sample was examined and analyzed using super depth-of-field microscopy,infrared spectrometry and Raman spectrometry.According to the results,this amber ornament could be confirmed as an imported Baltic amber,since its infrared spectrum showed a clear"Baltic shoulder".It is inferred that this ornament might have been transferred to Pingcheng along the Eurasia Steppe and then passed through an uncertain route from the Yanbei region to the northern edge of Guanzhong Basin.This is the first tested sample of Northern-Wei-time ambers to acquire its clear provenance,and this study provides new materials and reliable temporal and spatial nodes for in-depth discussions on the spread of Baltic ambers during the early Middle Ages.
维普
万方数据