News Main
Animals
Archaeology
Dinosaurs
Earth
History
Human Animal
Space
Tech

Taiwan: Trendy Prehistoric Jade Source

Of 144 jade artifacts from 49 sites the researchers analyzed using non-invasive scanning equipment, 116 specimens from 38 sites were made from Taiwan jade.

"This is very strong evidence that ancient populations in different regions had very frequent contact and communication," said Hung, of the university's Department of Archaeology and Natural History. She says this shows contact between Taiwan and the Philippines stretches back 4000 years.

The findings also help in understanding how skilled and technologically advanced the populations were at that time.

The ear ornaments, which were highly valued by the elite, required high levels of skill, but also considerable labor input, she says.

Experimental archaeological research has shown eight hours of sawing jade using a stone knife and sand creates a groove only 11 millimeters deep. And, Hung points out, one hour of drilling using a hollow bamboo with sand and water cuts only 10 millimeters below the surface.

"We are very sure they had no iron tools," Hung said. "But at the moment we cannot reconstruct the whole process of [jade earring] production."

Hung plans to try to understand the production techniques and how items such as bamboo drills and slate cutting tools are used.