Chemical fingerprinting of whitewares from Nanwa site of the Chinese Erlitou state

Whitewares are among the most significant finds from Erlitou, China’s earliest state (c. 1900–1500 BC). They were primarily discovered in small numbers from elite tombs of a few sites, leading to the hypothesis that they were made at only a few places and then circulated as prestige items. Recent archaeological work indicates Nanwa may be a whiteware production site. To facilitate determining provenances, we compare the ICP-MS trace elements and TIMS Sr isotopes of Nanwa whitewares with those from Tang dynasty (618–907 AD) Gongxian kilns and Song dynasty (960–1279 AD) Ding kilns. Although all were made of white-firing kaolinic clays, each of the three groups shows a different chemical composition. Furthermore, samples from Nanwa are chemically consistent and restricted in a way analogous to those from Gongxian and Ding, implying that Nanwa whiteware was probably produced in situ. In addition, Gongxian and Ding samples define two separate linear arrays in their 87Rb/86Sr versus 87Sr/86Sr ratios, demonstrating that the clays for these samples are respectively related geochemically. Nanwa samples fall out of the linear arrays of both Gongxian and Ding, indicating that Nanwa whiteware clays were not derived from the same source rock as Gongxian clays, although the two sites are only some 25.5 km apart. In sum, beyond the general similarity of kaolinic clays used at Nanwa, Gongxian and Ding and the geographical proximity of those sites, finer distinctions of elemental and Sr isotopic contents indicate relatively unique chemical characteristics for each group. These traits provide valuable criteria to source traded ceramics of uncertain origins.