Page 92 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

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Jade owl plaque. (Archaeologists subsequently conducted a
systematic excavation of the tomb and found an-
Width 3.8 (iV 2) other grave.) Although the precise positions of
Hongshan Culture, c. 4700-2920 BCE these particular objects remain unrecorded, discov-
From Hutougou, Fuxin, Liaoning Province
eries such as these, as well as systematically exca-
Liaoning Provincial Museum, Shenyang vated finds, have have enabled archaeologists to
identify jade carving as one of the attributes of the
17 Hongshan culture.
The Hongshan jade animal figures are
Three-holed jade object with animal heads
uniformly small (turquoise was also used to create
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Height 2.8 (iVs), width 9.2 (3 A) small-scale animal sculptures); holes drilled into
Hongshan Culture, c. 4700-2920 BCE the back of the objects indicate that they may have
From Sanguandianzi, Lingyuan, Liaoning Province been attached to certain articles — perhaps cloth-
ing— or that they served as pendants. These jade
Liaoning Provincial Museum, Shenyang
turtles and birds exhibit a more naturalistic ap-
proach to representation than do other Hongshan
In 1973, along the river at Hutougou (in Fuxin jades such as the jade plaque with animal design
county, Liaoning province), farmers found a stone and the Y-shaped object (cats. 14,15). Particular
tomb, part of which had been washed away by the cultures or periods do not necessarily exhibit a
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current. They recovered several jades, including uniform artistic style; indeed, abstract and realistic
the owl exhibited here (cat. 16), as well as two tur- approaches to representation coexisted in the
tles, a bird, another owl, a bi disk, and a cloudlike Hongshan culture.

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