CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

FIG. i. Jade coiled dragon;
height 26 (io!/4); Hongshan
culture; excavated in 1971
from Sanxingtala,
Wengniuteqi, Inner
Mongolia. After Wengniute
1984, 6, fig. i (left).
10
Jade coiled dragon
Height 10.3 (4 Ys)
Hongshan Culture, c. 4700-2920 BCE
From Niuheliang, Jianping, Liaoning Province
Liaoning Provincial Institute of Archaeology,
Shenyang
11
Hollow cylindrical jade object
Height 18.6 (/Vs), diam. 10.7 (4 V 4 )
Hongshan Culture, c. 4700-2920 BCE
From Niuheliang, Jianping, Liaoning Province
Liaoning Provincial Institute of Archaeology,
Shenyang
FIG. 2. Jade coiled dragon;
height 7 (2 3 /4); Shang
dynasty; excavated in 1976
from the Fu Hao tomb,
Anyang, Henan province.
After Sun 1984, 7, fig. i
(right).
Two jade coiled dragons found back-to-back on the
chest of a male, and a hollow cylindrical jade object
positioned underneath his skull were excavated from
Tomb 4, Mound i, Locality 2 at Niuheliang in 1984
(see page 80, plate). 1 These two different types of
carvings embody the spirit and style of the Hongshan
jade repertoire. Although earlier excavations in
Liaoning province had suggested a connection between
jades such as these and the Hongshan culture,
the controlled excavation at Niuheliang in 1984 was
the first to scientifically assign these objects to the
Hongshan culture and to document their positions
in the burial. 2 Fifteen years of subsequent excavations
at the site have yielded no other examples of
jade dragons.
The position of cat. 10 on the body, as well as
the drilled hole, indicates that the object was hung
on the chest of the deceased. The rarity of jade
dragons in burials testifies to the fact that they
were reserved for an exclusive group of the Hongshan,
and they may have served as elements of
ritual (perhaps involving pigs or boars 3 ), tokens of
status, or fertility symbols. 4
The jade creature combines a coiled, serpentine
body with a head resembling that of a pig or a bear;
on that basis, such objects have conventionally
been identified as "pig-dragons" or "bear-dragons." 5
Tusks on dragons from the Zhaobaoguo culture, as
well as on a clay sculpture from the female spirit
temple at Niuheliang, however, suggest that the
head more likely represents that of a boar. 6 Hongshan
representations of dragons took a variety of
forms and were carved of various types of jade —
cream colored, light green (as in this example), or
blackish green. A larger jade from Sanxingtala,
Wengniuteqi, Inner Mongolia illustrates one such
variant: here, a decorative mane extends from the
top of the head to the elongated body (fig. i). 7 Its
form is thought by some scholars to derive from
the earlier form (exemplified by cat. io), 8 but more
archaeological evidence is required to establish
that derivation with any certainty.
Archaeological evidence has demonstrated that
the dragon was an image common to a number of
prehistoric cultures, including the Hongshan, the
83 | HONCSHAN CULTURE