Some Amber Artifacts Excavated from Tombs ofthe Han Dynasty in Hunan Province

Amber has been well documented since the Han Dynasty as a precious material many amber artifacts have been unearthed from tombs of Han Dynasty in China, It is generally believed that amber raw materials and some already-made artifacts may come from Europe (Baltic Sea) and Myanmar during the Han Dynasty, so amber and its artifacts are considered as a vital material and hard evidence of cultural exchange between ancient China and abroad. However, the analysis of excavated amber by using scientific methods is still limited so far. This paper applies Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to characterize several pieces of amber ornaments excavated from the tombs of Han Dynasty in central and southern Hunan Province and the results indicate that most of the ornaments were made of raw materials from Myanmar but also one Shuang Sheng amulet made of Baltic amber, Amber artifacts undergo significant deterioration during burial and exhibition, and varying degrees of deterioration and the presence of sedentary attachment may affect the results of infrared spectra of amber, which in turn interferes with the study of tracing the origin of the amber raw material. A preliminary study of amber and ornaments made of various gemstones and glass could reveal that the Hunan Province has influenced by both the Northern Steppe Silk Road and Southern Maritime Silk Road during the Han Dynasty and that in-land trade flows in this region were complex and diverse, and some amber ornaments may have been produced locally by exotic materials. More scientific data and analysis will support the study of ancient trade and cultural exchange during ancient time on a larger scale.

琥珀自汉代起便已有详实文献记载，是一种珍贵材质，中国境内汉代墓葬中亦出土了诸多琥珀器物。学界普遍认为，汉代琥珀原料及部分成品器物可能源自欧洲（波罗的海）与缅甸，因此琥珀及其器物被视作古代中国与域外文化交流的重要载体与实证依据。然而，目前采用科学方法对出土琥珀开展的分析研究仍较为有限。本研究采用傅里叶变换红外光谱（Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy, FTIR）技术，对湘中、湘南地区汉代墓葬出土的多件琥珀饰件进行表征分析，结果显示：多数饰件的原料源自缅甸，另有一件双胜佩饰采用波罗的海琥珀制成。琥珀器物在埋葬与展陈过程中会发生显著劣化，不同程度的劣化及附着物的存在可能干扰琥珀红外光谱的检测结果，进而影响琥珀原料溯源研究的准确性。对琥珀及多种宝石、玻璃质饰件开展的初步研究表明，汉代湖南地区同时受到北方草原丝绸之路与南方海上丝绸之路的文化影响，该区域的内陆贸易往来复杂多元，部分琥珀饰件可能是利用外来原料在本地加工而成。后续更多的科学数据与分析研究，将为更大范围内的古代贸易与文化交流研究提供支撑。