Jades from major archaeological discoveries in China in 2005
Saturday, August 19, 2006 at 10:28PM
The State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China publishes each year a catalogue listing summarized details and pictures of the key discoveries. The 2005 catalogue has been published in May 2005 by Wenwu Publishing House with ISBN 7-5010-1903-7 (www.wenwu.com).
I have selected the informations and pictures concerning jades. These informations are quite important because they come from controlled excavations and define ages, shapes, colors and locations and serve as benchmarks when and what colors, styles and shapes where used and at what locations.
GaoMiao Neolithic Culture site (5800-4800BC)
Jade qi-axe blade from tomb M27 of the upper layer at GaoMiao
Jade huang-pendant from tomb M26 of the upper layer at GaoMiao
Late Neolithic Yangshao Culture site associated with a Western Zhou stratum
Green jade yue-axe from tomb M11
Green weathered jade yue-axe from tomb M6
Liangzhu Culture site with 7 tombs and 21 sacrificial pits
Jade implements from Yaojiashan
Jade and stone implements from Yaojiashan
Bronze Age cemetery in Aqiang, Yutian Country in Xinjiang
As of now, these are the earliest jade implements unearthed in Xinjiang
The Temple of Duke Zhou site, a Shang-Zhou dynasty cemetery
Artefacts recovered from the highest ranking burial complex of the Lingpo cemetery
The cemetery with the tombs of the Count of Peng and his wife from the Western Zhou state of Peng
The jades of the tomb of Count Peng. The red color comes from a red cloth, the Western Zhou huang wei, draped over the coffin. It is not known if the red color is cinnabar.This was the first time that the hunag wei, decribed in ancient texts
has been actually found in a tomb
Close-up of the white jade huang-pendants
Another view of them
Another Zhou site with 103 tombs and 17 sacrificial horse chariot pits
Ornaments with jade birds, jade shells and glass beads from tomb M19.
A bronze li-tripod with inscriptions found also makes reference to a Prince and a Duke Rui
The tomb M26 with jades along which also a pig dragon jade pendant was found.
The pig dragon pendant in the Zhou tomb.
The richly endowed Zhou tomb M27 with numerous jades and bonze vessels
A jade archers ring and a jade tiger figurine with a human head from tomb M27
The Spring and Autumn tombs of the Yue Kingdom with fine ritual vessels
and musical instruments in brown celadon and many micro-carved jades
Micro-carved jades of the Yue Kingdom period
Detailed view of the micro-carved dragon and phoenix jades
A Siwa culture, Western Zhou and Han Dynasty cerimonial site
Han Dynasty jades as found
A Zhou-Li text book like bi-disc and gui-tablet assembly
Han Dynasty style bi-disc
White bi-disc with traces of cinnabar
Green jade reading pointer in the form of a human figure
Reader Comments (1)
Our most prolific contributor, Herbert Giess, has done it again.... produced an incredible one-of-a-kind piece in words and pictures about major archeological discoveries in China during 2005. This unique information is available only at the Friends of Jade website. I hope you will all take a look at this wonderful addition.
Fred Ward -- Friends of Jade