Chinese made first use of diamond

[The Roswell Man]

Stone age craftsmen in China were polishing jade objects using diamond 2,000 years before anyone else had the same idea, new evidence suggests.

Quartz was previously thought to be the abrasive used to polish ceremonial axes in late stone age, or neolithic, China.

But the investigations of a Chinese-US team of scientists indicate that quartz alone would not have been able to achieve such lustrous finishes.

The team reports its diamond findings in the journal Archaeometry.

Harvard University physicist Peter Lu and colleagues studied four ceremonial burial axes, the oldest of which dates to about 4,500 years ago.

The team used X-ray diffraction and electron microprobe analysis. This determined that the most abundant mineral in the axes was corundum, known as ruby in its red form and sapphire in all other colours.

Hard case

The majority of prehistoric stone objects are traditionally thought to have been fashioned from rocks containing minerals no harder than quartz. But corundum is one of the hardest minerals known to science, second only to diamond.

What the researchers found even more intriguing were the finely polished surfaces of the axes, which reflect an image like a mirror.

To test their ideas, the researchers took a small stone sample from one of the axes, an artefact from the Liangzhou culture, and subjected it to polishing with diamond, alumina and silica, following modern techniques.

The finely polished axes reflected an image like a mirror

Using an atomic force microscope to examine the polished surfaces on a nanometre scale, the scientists found the diamond-polished surface most closely matched the surface from the ancient axe.

Quartz could not have been the abrasive used by the ancient craftsmen.

"Our understanding of the first use of diamond is based on textual evidence from 500 BC in India. But even that - though probably right - is speculative. This is physical evidence a couple of thousand years earlier," Dr Lu told the BBC News website.

"Any experiment does not give you 100% certainty, but this is the only possibility that makes sense."

However, even with the best modern polishing technologies available, the research team could not achieve a surface as flat and smooth as that on the ancient axe.

The authors speculate that the use of diamond and corundum abrasives could be linked to an explosion in finely polished jade artefacts during the Chinese neolithic.

The use of corundum could have slashed production times while diamond could have added the finishing touches, they suggest.

Quartz, previously thought to have been the neolithic lapidary's abrasive of choice, is only slightly harder than jade

souce: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4555235.stm

[marduk]

Stone age craftsmen in China were polishing jade objects using diamond 2,000 years before anyone else had the same idea, new evidence suggests.

Quartz was previously thought to be the abrasive used to polish ceremonial axes in late stone age, or neolithic, China.

But the investigations of a Chinese-US team of scientists indicate that quartz alone would not have been able to achieve such lustrous finishes.

The team reports its diamond findings in the journal Archaeometry.

Harvard University physicist Peter Lu and colleagues studied four ceremonial burial axes, the oldest of which dates to about 4,500 years ago.

The team used X-ray diffraction and electron microprobe analysis. This determined that the most abundant mineral in the axes was corundum, known as ruby in its red form and sapphire in all other colours.

Hard case

The majority of prehistoric stone objects are traditionally thought to have been fashioned from rocks containing minerals no harder than quartz. But corundum is one of the hardest minerals known to science, second only to diamond.

What the researchers found even more intriguing were the finely polished surfaces of the axes, which reflect an image like a mirror.

To test their ideas, the researchers took a small stone sample from one of the axes, an artefact from the Liangzhou culture, and subjected it to polishing with diamond, alumina and silica, following modern techniques.

The finely polished axes reflected an image like a mirror

Using an atomic force microscope to examine the polished surfaces on a nanometre scale, the scientists found the diamond-polished surface most closely matched the surface from the ancient axe.

Quartz could not have been the abrasive used by the ancient craftsmen.

"Our understanding of the first use of diamond is based on textual evidence from 500 BC in India. But even that - though probably right - is speculative. This is physical evidence a couple of thousand years earlier," Dr Lu told the BBC News website.

"Any experiment does not give you 100% certainty, but this is the only possibility that makes sense."

However, even with the best modern polishing technologies available, the research team could not achieve a surface as flat and smooth as that on the ancient axe.

The authors speculate that the use of diamond and corundum abrasives could be linked to an explosion in finely polished jade artefacts during the Chinese neolithic.

The use of corundum could have slashed production times while diamond could have added the finishing touches, they suggest.

Quartz, previously thought to have been the neolithic lapidary's abrasive of choice, is only slightly harder than jade

souce: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4555235.stm

628064[/snapback]

see, i told you there'd be an encore didn't I

[The Roswell Man]

i was thinking when u were going to pick that up

[marduk]

i was thinking when u were going to pick that up  

628147[/snapback]

Next week I'm gonna have another go at the lottery numbers

[Odinson]

see, i told you there'd be an encore didn't I

             

628122[/snapback]

Yep, you did. Either you're a seer, or the Chinese are the creators of all civilization, art, crafts, science, etc

[marduk]

see, i told you there'd be an encore didn't I

             

628122[/snapback]

Yep, you did. Either you're a seer, or the Chinese are the creators of all civilization, art, crafts, science, etc

629257[/snapback]

I guess I'm a seer,

or maybe i'm just chinese

hehe

[Odinson]

see, i told you there'd be an encore didn't I

             

628122[/snapback]

Yep, you did. Either you're a seer, or the Chinese are the creators of all civilization, art, crafts, science, etc

629257[/snapback]

I guess I'm a seer,

or maybe i'm just chinese

hehe

629266[/snapback]

Well, if you're both, I'll have to call you the Fortune Cookie guy.

[The Roswell Man]

or just plain flukey

[marduk]

or just plain flukey  

629651[/snapback]

Not really.

sometimes archaeological departments in various countries get bored

lets look at the three big discoveries in detail and see if theres a pattern

1) oldest homo fossil. so what next week they'll find one older in ireland

2) earliest civilisation 5000 years ago. so basically not as old as egypt then. so what

3) chinese first to use diamonds as a polishing tool. zzzzzzzzzzzzz

see on their own they're all pretty minor league crap

but three in a row woohoo surf that wave dudes

i bet these three have been burning a hole in their pockets for months.

see not a seer

not chinese

not flukey

just cynical

Edited May 19, 2005 by marduk

[Conspiracy]

soooooooo almost everything IS made from china

[The Roswell Man]

hey guys just trying to post useful info

jeez

[marduk]

hey guys just trying to post useful info

jeez

631060[/snapback]

you're being a bit paranoid today roswell man

no ones having a go at you

unless you're chinese

[The Roswell Man]

got exams 2day

plus housemate annoyed me 2day.

[marduk]

go study

[The Roswell Man]

maybe while hunting

the hunters were panseys and a little insecure of their looks

lol

[marduk]

maybe while hunting

the hunters were panseys and a little insecure of their looks

lol

631996[/snapback]

uh oh

somebody call this guy a doctor

[The Roswell Man]

cant we take a joke

lol

[marduk]

cant we take a joke

lol

634789[/snapback]

maybe if i understood it ?