| Beast heads,meandering and footless are characteristic of early dragons.According to that criteria,dragon-shaped jades in Hongshan Culture includes"C"-shaped jade dragons,jue-shaped jade dragons and other jade dragons."C"-shaped Jade dragons and Hongshan Culture Jades are more similar and it is the development of Zhaobaogou Cultural statues.Lower Xiajiadian Culture does not have the economic and social conditions for producing "C-"shaped jade dragons.The two collected "C" jade dragons have the same buried environmenIt.They are funeraryies object in the tomb and has a nature of sacrifice.Without age-dating,they are more appropriate to set the age of Hongshan Culture in the early and mid-term.Jue-shaped jade dragons are divided into type A and type B according to the characteristics of morphology and craftsmanship.A types’ openings are connected,facial features is characterized by lines and more flat.B types’ openings are separated,facial features portray more complex.Jue-shaped stone dragon from Zuojiashan site pushes the age of jue-shaped jade dragons to the middle of Hongshan Culture and Type A is generally earlier than Type B.The jue-shaped jade dragons handed down and collected in the museum fill the gaps in archaeological excavations and enrich their forms.Other dragon-shaped jades include many types which can be divided into double-headed dragon-shaped jades,straight body dragon-shaped jades and Silkworm-shaped jades.The cultural connotation of the double-headed dragon jades are not only in conformity with the ancient Chinese mythology but also the embodiment of cultural exchange between the East and the West.The beast face "丫"-shaped jades are deformation of the snake jade earring,so the snake body is the dragon’s torso.The Dragon head-shaped scepterheads reflect the long history of the scepter in western part of Liaoning Province and their influence reaches Liangzhu Culture.Silkworm-shaped jades are one of the sources of the beast face "丫"-shaped jades.The "mutual infiltration rate" of hominid thinking caused the recognization of Hongshan Culture ancestors that silkworms were equivalent to snakes.In ancient literature,they were not only similar in shape and font but often placed in the same category by the ancients.In this sense,silkworms should also be dragons.The appearance of dragon-shaped jades were reflection of the fishing and hunting economy.Their head shape includes deer,pig and bear while the torso contains snake and silkworm.Dragon-shaped jades appeared about in 6,000 years ago of which "C-"shaped jade dragons and jue-shaped jade dragons appeared earliest.The other dragon-shaped jades are generally in the late stage of Hongshan Culture and basically one type has only one jade,so the age of the tombs is the jades’ that about 5500-5000 years ago.The dragon-shaped jades can be divided into two regions which include Xar Moron River basin and Daling River and Xiaoling River basins according to Nuluerhu Mountain.The "C"-shaped jade dragons distributed in the Xar Moron River basin.The jue-shaped jade dragons are distributed in both areas.The other dragon-shaped jades basically distributed in Daling river and Xiaoling river basin.After the"C"-shaped jade dragons emerged,the jue-shaped jade dragons developed in Daling River and Xiaoling River basins and gradually giving birth to other dragon-shaped jades. |
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