CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

20
FIG. 2. Triple-bi'-shaped
jade pendant; length
6.4 (2 ! /2); Hongshan
culture; excavated in 1973
from Tomb 3, Hutougou,
Fuxin, Liaoning province.
After Fang and Liu 1984, 4,
fig- 93-
right side of the chest of the deceased, a more
recent publication places it on the tomb occupant's
upper arm 4 — a position that indicates a function
for which we have evidence of a long tradition.
Several tilelike patterns decorate the surface of
the object; two holes are pierced on opposite sides,
and a single hole is pierced through the curved
end. Three examples of similar jades dating fifteen
hundred years later than the Hongshan jades (one
of these resembles the cloudlike plaque, and one
resembles the arm ornament [see fig. i]) have been
excavated from tombs of the Lower Xiajiadian
culture. 5
The double-bz-shaped pendant (cat. 20) was
dug out by farmers from a tomb at Locality 2, Niuheliang
and retrieved by archaeologists in i98i. 6
Two much smaller double-bz pendants of a different
shape were unearthed at Tomb 21, Mound i, Locality
2 at Niuheliang in 19897 Another smaller triplebi-shaped
pendant was excavated at Hutougou,
Fuxin, Liaoning province in 1973 (fig. 2). 8 The bi — a
flat disk with a hole in the center — was a cherished
image in China from prehistoric through imperial
times. It had a ritual function, and later texts, such
as the Zhou li (The rites of Zhou), dating from the
Warring States to Western Han periods, remark that
the bi might symbolize heaven, or that it served as
a ritual instrument for sacrifices to heaven. In
fact, the diverse forms and sizes of the Hongshan
bi-shaped pendants are an indication that they
probably served several purposes — decorative,
ceremonial, or ritual. XY
1 For example, see Yang 19933; Du 1998; Liu 1998.
2 Liaoning 19973.
3 Liaoning i997d, 27
and 56.
4 Reported: Wei 1994,11-12; Liaoning i997d, 61.
5 Zhongguo 1996,171 -172.
6 Reported: Sun 3nd Guo 1984,13 -14.
7 Liaoning 1997)3, 10 -11.
8 Fang and Liu 1984, 4.
95 | HONGSHAN CULTURE