Lead Isotope Ratios of Ancient Chinese and Japanese Glasses

Abstract

Lead isotope ratios of 29 archaeological glass samples (5 samples excavated in China, 10 samples excavated in Japan, and 14 samples made in Japan) were determined by surface ionization mass spectrometry with a HITACHI RMU-6 spectrometer. Of these glass samples, 28 were made of high lead glass, and one, of alkali-lime glass. Glass samples were decomposed in a mixture of hydrofluoric and nitric acids, and lead was separated from other elements by extraction with dithizone-chloroform. The lead nitrate solution thus prepared (corresponding to 0.5 μg Pb) was loaded on the rhenium single filament. The coefficients of variation of the determined ratios, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb, were 0.1-0.3%.
Among the glasses excavated in Japan, some samples of the Yayoi period (ca. 3rd C. B. C. - ca. 3rd C. A. D.) contained a large amount of barium in addition to lead, and resembled closely Chinese pre-Han glasses not only in chemical compositions, but also in lead isotope ratios. This means that pre-Han glasses were brought to Japan and then re-cast into glass beads characteristic of Japan. The lead isotope ratios of the glasses were compared with those of Chinese (2 samples), Korean ( 2 ) and Japanese (17) galena orea, and it was found that 12 glass beads made in the 8th century at Nara and 2 fine glass tubes made at Saga in the 18th-19th centuries showed similar lead isotope ratios with those of the Japanese galena ores. Consequently it is considered that the Japanese galena ores were already used as one of raw materials at manufacturing of these glass beads in ancient centuries.