Neutron activation analysis for the provenance study on terracotta army of Qin Shihuang
Creators
- 1. Beijing Univ., Beijing (China). Dept. of Archaeology
- 2. Terracotta Army Museum of Qin Shihuang, Xi'an (China)
Description
Neutron activation analysis (NAA), in combination with multivariate analysis of the generated data, was used for the provenance study of the Terracotta Army of Qin Shihuang, the first Emperor of the first unified country of China. Using NAA, we measured the chemical composition of 30 shreds of the Terracotta Army and 29 clay samples from six resources in Lintong around Qin Shihuang Mausoleum. Although quite a few elements were determined, 8 elements were used for grouping the shreds and raw clay samples. By the statistical methods, some of clay samples close to the mausoleum present a chemical composition similar to that of the Terracotta Army, which hints these the raw clay resources were likely applied for the production of the Terracotta Army of Qin Shihuang
Additional details
Publishing Information
- Journal Title
- Nuclear Techniques
- Journal Volume
- 27
- Journal Issue
- 1
- Journal Page Range
- p. 38-42
- ISSN
- 0253-3219
INIS
- Country of Publication
- China
- Country of Input or Organization
- China
- INIS RN
- 35052440
- Subject category
- S58: GEOSCIENCES;
- Descriptors DEI
- ARCHAEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS; CHEMICAL COMPOSITION; CHINA; CLAYS; CULTURAL OBJECTS; DATA ANALYSIS; HISTORICAL ASPECTS; NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS; ORIGIN
- Descriptors DEC
- ACTIVATION ANALYSIS; ASIA; CHEMICAL ANALYSIS; MINERALS; NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS; SILICATE MINERALS