CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

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Cloudlike jade plaque
Height 12.9 fc 1 /}), width 20.9 (8 V*),
depth 0.9 ( 3 / 8 )
Hongshan Culture, c. 4700-2920 BCE
From Niuheliang, Jianping, Liaoning Province
Liaoning Provincial Institute of Archaeology,
Shenyang
19
Jade arm ornament
Height 6.3 (2 V 2 ), width 8.1 (3 'A), depth 0.5 ('A)
Hongshan Culture, c. 4700-2920 BCE
From Niuheliang, Jianping, Liaoning Province
Liaoning Provincial Institute of Archaeology,
Shenyang
2O
Double-fai-shaped jade pendant
Height 13 (5 1 / 8 ), width 8 (3'A), depth i.o ( 3 A)
Hongshan Culture, c. 4700-2920 BCE
From Niuheliang, Jianping, Liaoning Province
Liaoning Provincial Museum, Shenyang
Together with coiled dragons (cat. 10) and hollow
cylindrical jade objects (cat. n), cloudlike jade
plaques are the most representative jade works of
the Hongshan culture. The term "cloudlike," a conventional
usage of Chinese archaeologists, hardly
covers the variety of shapes that these plaques
assume, although the form is typically rectangular
or round with four protruding legs. In recent years,
several scholars have combined this type, the jade
plaque with animal design (cat. 14), and other types
of jades into one category of object, and suggested
that they served the same functions. 1 Cloudlike
jade plaques, however, are more properly treated as
a category of their own, perhaps representing a
transformation of animal forms such as the turtle or
tortoise. This plaque was excavated in 1987 from the
central tomb (measuring 3.8 by 3.1 meters) at
Mound i, Locality 5, Niuheliang. The tomb, that of
an adult male, constituted the highest level in the
hierarchy of grave forms, but it contained only
seven jade objects: two bi, placed symmetrically at
the skull near the ears; two tortoises or turtles,
placed on the palms of the occupant's hands; a
bracelet worn on the right wrist, a braceletlike jade
positioned on the right side of the chest, and this
plaque, which was positioned vertically and upside-
93 | HONCSHAN CULTURE