Page 85 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

11 Yangshao, and the Taosi Longshan (see cat. 25). 9
Dragon images from later periods are evidence of
the enduring impact of these cultures, as well as
regional influences: the plastic form of dragons
from the Shang period (c. 1600-1100 BCE) such as
one from the Fu Hao Tomb at Anyang (fig. 2), re-
sembles both the Hongshan and Taosi dragons. 10
With a form resembling that of a horse's hoof,
the hollow cylinder, cat. n represents the most
common type of jade object excavated from the
Niuheliang tombs, although they are not invariably
a component of the central tombs' burial objects.
Though identified by some scholars as arm or wrist
11
ornament or a tool of some sort, the position of
these objects in the tombs — placed horizontally
12
underneath or above the skull of the dead — has
led to a consensus that they were used as hair orna-
13
ments. Objects from the later period, such as a
jade excavated from Dayangzhou (Xin'gan, Jiangxi
14
province), depict figures with towering, braided
hair held in place with cylindrical objects, a hair
style that may have been associated with individuals
of particular status, or participants in rituals or
ceremonies. The identification of the Hongshan
cylinders with such ornaments is uncertain.
Furthermore, the function of the symmetrically
drilled holes, as well as the significance of the ob-
jects' horizontal placement remains unknown. The
jade bears a resemblance to Hongshan pottery
vessels with sloping edges, but whether the two
15
forms are related has not been established. What-
ever their function, jade cylinders had a long use;
one was found in the same region in a grave dating
some fifteen hundred years later, hung at the back
16
of the deceased. XY

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