Archaeologists recently unearthed Hongshan culture artifacts, including several jade dragons at the Yuanbaoshan site in Chifeng City, located in the Inner Mongolia, and at the Zhengjiagou site in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province.
One of the most remarkable findings is a jade dragon measuring 15.8 cm in length, 9.5 cm in width, and 3 cm in thickness. This artifact was excavated from a stone tomb in Yuanbaoshan, alongside over 100 other jade artifacts, according to People's Daily. "One of the findings includes the largest jade dragon ever discovered, which provides valuable new insights into the study of the Hongshan culture," the source reported.
The Yuanbaoshan site features a unique architectural layout with a circular tomb in the north and a square altar in the south, the only such structures discovered in Inner Mongolia to date. "The excavation of Yuanbaoshan provides valuable clues about the social structure and ritual systems of the late Hongshan culture," said archaeologist Dang Yu, as reported by People's Daily.
Chifeng is recognized as the birthplace of the Hongshan culture and has over 700 known sites related to it. The Hongshan culture is a prehistoric archaeological culture that emerged around 6,500 years ago in northern China. The distribution of Hongshan culture covers three regions: the west of Liaoning Province, the north of Hebei Province, and the east of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Among these regions, Liaoning Province is the core area in terms of Hongshan culture distribution.
"This archaeological survey provides key coordinates for exploring settlement sites that evolved in coordination with the core area of Hongshan culture," said Yu Huaishi, a researcher from the Liaoning Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, according to News China.
The discovery of the Yuanbaoshan site adds to the region's archaeological heritage, representing a late Hongshan culture burial and ceremonial complex that dates back about 5,000 years. The other jade artifacts from the Hongshan culture include rings, discs, silkworms, and owls.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.