Tomb yields oldest dragon
1/11/2005 7:43
A 3,700-year-old dragon statue, made of more than 2,000 pieces of
turquoise, is believed by many scholars to be the oldest Chinese dragon
totem.
The 70-centimeter-long dragon, an ancient symbol of royal rights and
social status, was discovered in the Erlitou relics site in Yanshi City of
central China's Henan Province. Many Chinese scholars believe that Erlitou is
the site of the capital of China's first dynasty, the Xia Dynasty (2,100-1,600
BC).
Archeologist du Jinpeng said some dragon relics older than the figure in
Erlitou have been uncovered in other places, such as a 7,000-year-old jade
sculpture showing a dragon with a pig's head, found in a Neolithic site in
Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia.
Those artifacts, however, had no direct
connection with the ancient civilization that originated in central China, said
Du.
"Only the dragon discovered in central China had a direct link with the
Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties and came down in one continuous line," said Du, a
researcher with the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences.
"Therefore, the dragon antique in Erlitou is the lineal origin of
the dragon totem of the Chinese nation," Du said.
The totem, 70.2cm long,
looks like a python. It is composed of more than 2,000 pieces of turquoise, each
only 0.1cm thin and 0.2-0.9cm long.
High-ranking noble
"It's very rare to
find such delicate dragon-shaped relics from that period. And it is of great
historic, artistic and scientific value," said Du.
Xu hong, discoverer of the
totem, said the dragon was excavated from the tomb of a high-ranking noble in
Erlitou's palace area.
The turquoise dragon was found between the shoulder
and the hipbone of the tomb's occupant.
Du said it may have been embedded in
a mace, or ornamental staff used in sacrificial rites.
Xinhua
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