Diamond-polished alumina axe from the Liangzhu culture in prehistoric China (2500 BC)

Diamond-polished alumina stone ritual burial axe from the prehistoric China, created by the neolithic Liangzhu culture in 2500 BC, near modern-day Shanghai. Video was created with a 3D laser scan of the stone axe, with a photograph applied as a texture and rendered using Pixar’s RenderMan. The diamond polishing on this and other axes represents man’s known first use of diamond. See: Peter J. Lu, Nan Yao, Jenny F. So, George E. Harlow, Jianfang Lu, Genfu Wang, a