Page 88 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

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impressive of the Niuheliang tombs, Tomb 21 has larger jade turtles were placed in the hands of the
yielded the richest complement of jades of any deceased. Other prehistoric cultures also produced
Hongshan tomb excavated thus far. The tomb had turtle-shaped jades, such as the one discovered at
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never been disturbed, a fact that permitted archae- Lingjiatan, Hanshan, Anhui province. During the
ologists to map the original positions of its jades Shang period, turtle shells were frequently employed
and to obtain a better understanding of their possi- for divinatory purposes (see cat. 56), while turtles
ble use and functions. The jades include ten were common subjects for sculptors, who rendered
square-and-round-cornered hi disks, two double bi- lifelike, detailed versions in hardstone (cat. 54). Even
shaped disks, one hollow cyclindrical object, and a so, few examples survive of jade turtle carapaces,
cloudlike pendant, as well as a jade turtle carapace although the tradition endured for several thousand
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and a jade animal mask. The latter two — elaborate years over successive generations; one late but al-
and unique items — are included in this exhibition. most identical example was recovered from a West-
The turtle carapace was placed on the left side ern Zhou tomb at Beizhao, Quwo, Shanxi province
of the chest of the deceased. Unlike other jade tur- (fig. 2).=
tles of the Hongshan culture (fig. i), this example is The turtle in China is an auspicious symbol,
painstakingly carved to represent the carapace itself. associated with longevity, but whether this associa-
Holes and tenons on the bottom of the jade suggest tions extends back in time to the Hongshan people
that it was originally combined with other materials remains an open question. In any case, the secular
or objects. The tradition of making images of turtles, and sacred associations of the turtle motif and of
or of using the actual shell for specific ritual or the carapace itself—a tradition that has continued
decorative purposes, has a long history in China. for 8,000 years — indicate the lasting importance
Recent archaeological discoveries at Jiahu, Wuyang, of the image.
Henan province have revealed that as early as 6000 The jade animal mask (cat. 13) is a plaquelike
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BCE turtle plastrons were incised with marks. The abstraction of an animal head. The two eyes and the
two large central graves at Hutougou and Niuhe- nostrils are hollowed in the round. The two sym-
liang yielded additional turtle- or tortoise-shaped metrical small perforations in the animal's jowls,
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jades of the Hongshan culture. At Niuheliang, two with traces of wear on the bottom edges of the

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