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Jade coiled dragon Two jade coiled dragons found back-to-back on the
chest of a male, and a hollow cylindrical jade object
Height 10.3 (4 Ys)
Hongshan Culture, c. 4700-2920 BCE positioned underneath his skull were excavated from
From Niuheliang, Jianping, Liaoning Province Tomb 4, Mound i, Locality 2 at Niuheliang in 1984
1
(see page 80, plate). These two different types of
Liaoning Provincial Institute of Archaeology, carvings embody the spirit and style of the Hongshan
Shenyang jade repertoire. Although earlier excavations in
Liaoning province had suggested a connection be-
11 tween jades such as these and the Hongshan culture,
the controlled excavation at Niuheliang in 1984 was
Hollow cylindrical jade object
the first to scientifically assign these objects to the
Height 18.6 (/Vs), diam. 10.7 (4 V 4) Hongshan culture and to document their positions
2
Hongshan Culture, c. 4700-2920 BCE in the burial. Fifteen years of subsequent excava-
From Niuheliang, Jianping, Liaoning Province tions at the site have yielded no other examples of
jade dragons.
Liaoning Provincial Institute of Archaeology,
The position of cat. 10 on the body, as well as
Shenyang
the drilled hole, indicates that the object was hung
on the chest of the deceased. The rarity of jade
dragons in burials testifies to the fact that they
were reserved for an exclusive group of the Hong-
shan, and they may have served as elements of
3
ritual (perhaps involving pigs or boars ), tokens of
status, or fertility symbols. 4
The jade creature combines a coiled, serpentine
body with a head resembling that of a pig or a bear;
on that basis, such objects have conventionally
been identified as "pig-dragons" or "bear-dragons." 5
Tusks on dragons from the Zhaobaoguo culture, as
well as on a clay sculpture from the female spirit
temple at Niuheliang, however, suggest that the
head more likely represents that of a boar. 6 Hong-
shan representations of dragons took a variety of
forms and were carved of various types of jade —
cream colored, light green (as in this example), or
blackish green. A larger jade from Sanxingtala,
Wengniuteqi, Inner Mongolia illustrates one such
variant: here, a decorative mane extends from the
7
top of the head to the elongated body (fig. i). Its
form is thought by some scholars to derive from
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the earlier form (exemplified by cat. io), but more
FIG. i. Jade coiled dragon; FIG. 2. Jade coiled drag- archaeological evidence is required to establish
3
height 26 (io!/4); Hongshan on; height 7 (2 /4); Shang
culture; excavated in 1971 dynasty; excavated in 1976 that derivation with any certainty.
from Sanxingtala, from the Fu Hao tomb, Archaeological evidence has demonstrated that
Wengniuteqi, Inner Anyang, Henan province. the dragon was an image common to a number of
Mongolia. After Wengniute After Sun 1984, 7, fig. i
1984, 6, fig. i (left). (right). prehistoric cultures, including the Hongshan, the
83 | H O N C S H A N C U L T U R E
