On a bronze sword excavated form East Zhou tombs in Zhoujiazhuang (Zhou Family Village), Shandong province; it was found that a thin layer of white substance had been used to glue turquoises of all shapes to the sword cross - guard. A FTIR spectrum showed that the sample contained saturated esters and carboxylic acids. In comparison with standard FTIR spectra of many natural adhesives, the FTIR spectrum of the sample matched best that of shellac. SEM-EDS results showed that sample did not contain nitrogen, so nitrogenous adhesives such as protein glues and lacquer would not be the source.