Page 82 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

of the eponymous female spirit — a clay head — has been excavated. If it in fact served as a
temple, the building's modest size indicates that it was not intended to hold many worshippers.
Guo Dashun suggests this temple was built for and used by a few, elite individuals and argues
that the graduated female sculptures may indicate a hierarchical form of ancestor worship. 19
The difficulties in distinguishing the unbaked clay from the surrounding earth have prompted
archaeologists wisely to halt further excavation and cover the site with earth until the develop-
ment of more refined equipment and skills.
The complex of pyramid-shaped structures, temples, mounds, and altars at Niuheliang was
built on a series of hilltops or high hillsides over an area measuring approximately fifty square
kilometers, within a band measuring one kilometer from north to south; the female spirit
temple was located at center of the complex, which ingeniously incorporates the geographic
features of the area. Su Bingqi has suggested that Niuheliang represents a precursor to late
20
imperial complexes incorporating a mausoleum, temple, and altar. Some archaeologists have
detected the emergence of a ritual system in the Hongshan culture on the basis of stratified
burials and the systematic use of jade and pottery in the tombs. 21
The extensive use of sophisticated ritual jades in China during its late prehistory — exem-
plified by the Hongshan culture in northeastern China and the Liangzhu culture in the lower
22
Yangzi River delta — has prompted some scholars to identify the period as the Jade Age. The
jade's primary use in ritual and decoration rather than for tools, however, renders that termi-
nology somewhat suspect. 23 XY

1 Calibrated carbon-14 data date the Hongshan culture to 11 Liaoning I997d, 16 - 25.
between 4710 and 2920 BCE. See Yang Hu 1989, 222; and 12 Liaoning 1994, pis. 77-88.
Yang Hu 1994, 46 and 49. 13 Liaoning 1994, pis. 55 - 73; and Liaoning i997d, 6 -10.
2 Wenwu 1990, 27. Guo Dashun has outlined a regional 14 Yang Hu 1994, 47.
context for the Hongshan culture in an essay published 15 Liaoning 19973, b, and c.
in English: see Nelson 19953, 21-64. 16 The central tomb at Niuheliang Mound i, Locality 5, for
3 Torii visited Chifeng, Inner Mongolia in 1908; Licent example, contained only seven jades. See Liaoning 19973.
examined the site in 1924. See Torii 1914, 31; Licent 1932, 17 This temple is composed of two separate structures; the
27. main structure is 18.4 meters long, and the minor one is
4 Andersson 1934,188 -199. Guo Dashun suggests that it is a 2.65 meters long. Stone was not used in the temple's
Hongshan and post-Hongshan site and functioned prima- construction. See Liaoning 1986, 2-3; and Liaoning
rily as a cemetery, but that it was used for sacrifice as well. i997d, 30.
See Liaoning I997d, 4. 18 Liaoning 1986,1-6.
5 Hamada and Mizuno 1938. 19 Liaoning i997d, 35.
6 See, for example, Pei 1948. 20 Sui994, 91-92.
7 Yin Da 1955; and Lu 1958. 21 Lisoning I997d, 39 - 42.
8 Fang and Liu 1984; Li 19863; Wengniute 1984. 22 For a geo-archaeological investigation of early jades, see
9 Guo and Zhang, 1984; and Liaoning 1986. Wen 3nd Jing 1997.
10 Guo 1989, 203; and Liaoning i997d, 14. 23 Xiei994.

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