Micro‐PIXE Geochemical Fingerprinting of Nephrite Neolithic Artifacts from Southwest Bulgaria

Abstract

Neolithic artifacts made of nephrite, □Ca2(Fe,Mg)5Si8O22(OH)2, are found at prehistoric settlements in Bulgaria. This study investigates these objects based on particle induced X‐ray emission using a scanning nuclear microprobe (micro‐PIXE technique). Seven nephrite artifacts from the Neolithic sites of Kovachevo, Bulgarchevo and Galabnik in southwest Bulgaria were analyzed to quantify their composition and to establish if a correlation exists between the distribution of major and trace elements, color, impurities, and texture. The nephrite artifacts are tremolite in composition, with a proposed ultrabasic origin. Based on the geochemical data obtained by micro‐PIXE, we divide the artifacts into Group 1 objects from the Kovachevo site and Group 2 objects from the Galabnik and Bulgarchevo sites. The analytical data and microprobe analyses are compared with geochemical data of nephrite from across the globe. The results are in a good agreement with previous electron microprobe and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy data. Our study provides a better understanding of the mineralogy and geochemistry of nephrite artifacts and helps to address questions regarding origin and the distribution of such materials in Bulgaria and other Balkan countries.

Petrographic and microprobe study of nephrites from Lower Silesia (SW Poland)

“…It can be com ple men tary when ap plied with a method of neph rite iden ti fi ca tion based on whole-rock geo chem is try given by Kostov et al (2012), or other meth ods.…”

“…Geo chem i cal meth ods en able iden ti fi ca tion of the neph rite source area with a high cer tainty. Re cent stud ies on Eu ro pean neph rite ar ti facts give op por tu ni ties for dis tin guish ing raw ma terial on the ba sis of whole-rock geo chem is try (cf., Kostov et al, 2012). In the pres ent study, chem is try of rock-form ing min er als and mi nor con stit u ents was ex am ined be cause neph rite museum ar ti facts are usu ally valu able and us age of de struc tive meth ods is im per mis si ble -there is a pos si bil ity to make non-inva sive chem i cal anal y ses of some min er als us ing the en vi ronmen tal (ESEM) or low-vac uum (LVSEM) scan ning elec tron micro scope with en ergy-dispersive spec trom e ter (EDS) (e.g., Hung et al, 2007).…”

“…Eu rope and Asia are among the ar eas where neph rite ar tifacts were dis cov ered in many sites, e.g., in It aly, in clud ing Sic ily and es pe cially Sar dinia (D'Amico et al, 2003), Bodensee Lake in Swit zer land (Maoelankiewicz, 1982;Middle ton, 2006;Heflik, 2010), SW Po land (Heflik, 2010), Bul garia (Kostov, 2005;Kostov et al, 2012), Baikal Lake in Si be ria, Rus sia (Losey et al, 2011), Gobi Altai in Mon go lia (Derevianko et al, 2008), Pa ki stan (Fournelle et al, 2010), China (Cheng et al, 2004;Sax et al, 2004;Hung et al, 2007), Tai wan, Viet nam, Phil ip pines, Ma laysia, Cam bo dia, Thai land (Hung et al, 2007). Es pe cially in ter esting are ar ti facts from Pol ish, Swiss, Ital ian and Bul gar ian sites ( Fig.…”

“…More over, the sources of neph rite ar ti facts in nu merous ar chae o log i cal sites re main un known, in clud ing those in central and south ern It aly, es pe cially Sar dinia (D'Amico et al, 2003), and in South Bul garia (Kostov, 2005). Fur ther more, re cent studies al lowed dis tin guish ing at least two dif fer ent types of neph rite raw ma te rial used to carve ob jects from sites in south-west Bulgaria (Kostov et al, 2012). The Pol ish source of these ar ti facts is prob a ble due to a rel a tively short dis tance.…”

Origin of serpentinite-related nephrite from Jordanów and adjacent areas (SW Poland) and its comparison with selected nephrite occurrences.

“…The larg est neph rite de pos its are lo cated in Brit ish Co lumbia (Can ada; Simandl et al, 2000;Makepeace and Simandl, 2001), Wy o ming, Cal i for nia, and Alaska (USA; Sinkankas, 1959;Sherer, 1972;Middle ton, 2006), Si be ria (Rus sia; Sorensen, 2001, 2005;Łapot, 2004;Kostov et al, 2012), Xinjiang, Qinghai, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Sichuan and Henan (China; Liu et al, 2010Liu et al, , 2011aSiqin et al, 2012), Chuncheon (Ko rea; Yui and Kwon, 2002), Hualien (Tai wan; Wan and Yeh, 1984;Siqin et al, 2012), South Aus tra lia and New South Wales (Aus tra lia; Aitchison et al, 1992;Sorensen, 2001, 2005), and the South Is land (New Zea land; Middle ton, 2006;Ad ams et al, 2007;Grapes and Yun, 2010). There are also neph rite de pos its in Eu rope -Sondrio (It aly; Adamo and Bocchio, 2013), Scortaseo (Swit zer land; Dietrich and de Quervain, 1968;Adamo and Bocchio, 2013;Péterdi et al, 2014), Thuringia and Ba varia (Ger many; Łobos et al, 2008;Péterdi et al, 2014), and Usinmaki and Pakila (Fin land;Gunia, 2000).…”