Page 122 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

stand as high as 30 centimeters tall with as many as
1
fifteen tiers. Their projecting collars span a range
of thickness and rotundity, and their corners are
variously rounded or sharply angled. Each of the
four corners is generally decorated with a face
motif sculpted in low relief or engraved in fine lines;
these motifs range from simple masks comprising
only circular eyes and a bar-shaped mouth to com-
plex faces with intricate scrollwork. Most cong have
a glossy finish; finely polished examples may be
quite lustrous.
The function and meaning of cong remain enig-
matic. Centuries of speculation have focused on
theories proposed in Late Zhou and Han texts that
postdate the Liangzhu culture by two or three thou-
sand years and are for that reason irrelevant to
how these objects were used in Neolithic times.
(The term cong itself derives from texts of the Late
Zhou period and, though descriptively useful, is
archaeologically meaningless.) In recent years
some scholars have attempted to relate the cong
to totemism and shamanism by applying Western
anthropological theories to the study of jades; 2
others warn that such analogies should be treated
with great caution. 3
Given their impressive size and weight, most
cong could not have been worn as personal orna-
ments. Their discovery in predominantly large,
2 9
lavishly furnished tombs suggests that cong proba-
Jade cong bly signified wealth and privileged social status.
However, they may have served other functions as
3
Height 10 (3 7s), exterior diam. 8.4 cm (3 /s),
5
interior diam. 6.6 (2 A) well. In a tomb at Sidun, Jiangsu province, numer-
ous cong lay in a circle around the
tomb
occupant,
Liangzhu Culture, c. 3200-2000 BCE suggesting that they had been arranged for a
From Fanshan, Yuhang, Zhejiang Province
specific religious or ritual purpose. 4
Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Archaeology, The recurring motif of superimposed faces, as
5
Hangzhou seen on this cong, probably grew out of an image
combining a human figure with a monster's face, of
Of all the diverse jade objects associated with the which the decoration on a cong recently unearthed
Liangzhu culture, the cong displays the most com- at Fanshan, Yuhang, Zhejiang province, provides a
6
plex form: a cylindrical tube encased in a square detailed example. The upper part of the image
prism that gently tapers from top to bottom, usually seems to represent a human figure wearing a fan-
divided into evenly spaced tiers by horizontal shaped feather headdress. A band of incised angu-
grooves. Cong vary in size, from short examples with lar spirals encircles its trapezoidal face; two pairs of
one or two tiers to large, pillarlike examples that concentric circles and two superimposed rectangles

121 L I A N C Z H U C U L T U R E