Page 131 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

34 a

34b

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centimeters and has sharp corners. Its surface with Early Liangzhu examples. They were made
decoration is drastically abbreviated: low-relief bars throughout the Middle and Late Dawenkou periods
and bands of parallel lines spanning the corners (3500-2500 BCE), during which their form re-
vaguely allude to the face motifs of the distant past. mained unchanged. It is likely that they were intro-
Rod-shaped fittings are thought to have been duced from Liangzhu during the early third
used as components of necklaces; certainly short millennium BCE with the strengthening interactions
ones could plausibly have served that function, between the two cultures. 6 zs
but examples from Late Liangzhu sites seem to be
1 Excavated in 1986 (M 9:7); not recorded in the brief
too long to have been worn as necklace pendants. report.
Some were probably mounted with their tips point- 2 Excavated in 1986 (M 20:73); reported: Zheijiang 19883, 23.
r a
ing upward, so that the face motifs would have 3 Nanjing 1982, 25-35, f° detailed photographic repro-
duction, see Zhejiang 1989, pi. 140.
been oriented right side up, but the diversity of 4 Shanghai 1986, 23, for a detailed photographic reproduc-
their positioning at the burial sites — near the tion, see Zhejiang 1989, pi. 139.
5 Shandong 1974, 96, pi. 97: 9.
head, the hands, or the chest of the deceased — 6 For discussion of the interactions between prehistoric
renders archaeological evidence for their function cultures in the Lake Tai region and those in the Shandong
inconclusive. region, see Gao 1986, 42, 47.
Rod-shaped fittings have also been found
at the Dawenkou site in Shandong province. 5
Round in cross section and pointed at one end,
they closely resemble and are contemporaneous

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