Personal adornments made of mineral and mineraloid materials in the Shizhaishan culture

This article discusses personal adornments made of mineral and mineraloid materials, discovered at the burial sites of the Shizhaishan culture (4th-1st centuries BC, Southwest China), which were left by the population ofthe Dian Kingdom: Shizhaishan, Lijiashan, Jinlianshan, Yangfutou, Xueguanbu, Wanjiaba, Xiaozhipo, Bishan, Batatai, and Hengdalu. An additional source of information were images ofpeople on bronze drums, which made it possible to clarify the functions of adornments. Analysis of the evidence shows that the most common types of adornments were bracelets, earrings, and beads. Bracelets and earrings were mostly made of nephrite and jadeite. Beads were made of nephrite, jadeite, agate, turquoise, malachite, prehnite, amber, and quartz siltstone. Threads of beads were used as neck and hand adornments. In addition, beads were used to decorate clothes and headdresses. Ritual funeral robes and burial covers (zhuzhu, zhubei) were also made of them. Both local and imported raw materials coming from both neighboring (Myanmar) and remote areas (central regions of modern China, Xinjiang) were used for manufacturing adornments. The most common mineral materials in the Dian archaeological complexes included nephrite, jadeite, agate, malachite, and turquoise, which can be explained by relatively easy access to these types of raw materials. At the Lijiashan and Shizhaishan burial grounds, personal adornments of rarer materials were found, such as amber, prehnite, and quartz siltstone. Beads made of coral (Shizhaishan burial ground) and etched carnelian (Lijiashan, Shizhaishan, Batatai) were imported items, probably from Southeast Asia.