7,400-Year-Old Jar Gives Clue To Phoenix-Worshipping History

Peoples Daily ^ | 3-26-2004 | Xinhua

[blam]

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, March 26, 2004

7,400-year-old jar gives clue to phoenix-worshipping history

A 7,400-year-old pottery jar stamped with the design of two flying phoenixes has been excavated recently in central China's Hunan Province, helping archaeologists unveil the secret of the "birth" of the sacred bird.

The two phoenixes have the typical characteristics of the legendary phoenix, which has a crest on its head, a long beak, a long neck and a long beautiful feathered tail.

The phoenix and the dragon are the most worshipped legendary creatures in China since ancient times.

The discovery showed that ancient Chinese myths relating to phoenixes dated back at least 7,400 years, said He Gang, head of the Hunan provincial archaeological research institute.

He headed the excavations at the Gaomiao Culture Ruins, covering 15,000 square meters, a Neolithic age site near Yanli Village of Chatou Township, Hongjiang City, unearthing a great deal of relic items that relate to religious rituals. in Yanli Village.

"I couldn't believe that the jar was made by ancients 7,400 years ago if I hadn't taken it myself," said He. "It's proof that there were special artisans, artists, at that time."

"The designs of the phoenix on the jar are far more delicate than of two similar birds on an ivory dish, unearthed several years ago from a site of the Hemudu Culture, dating back 4,000 to 7,000 years ago, in Yuyao County, east China's Zhejiang Province."

The phoenix is an imaginary bird, a creature resulting from primitives' piety, adoration and worship of gods, He said.

Chinese people have endowed the phoenix with many fine characteristics: beautiful, auspicious, kind, peaceful, and boasting lofty natural virtues. "Although the phoenix doesn't livein reality, it's in the heart of the Chinese people," He said.

"However, the phoenix was not created out of pure imagination,"said He. "Phoenix designs unearthed from the Gaomiao Culture ruins show that the original shape owed a lot to the peacock."

Discovery of the phoenix designs also provided important evidence that prove the Yangtze River valley was a major cradle of Chinese civilization, He said.

Moreover, discoveries of religious and sacrificial items at thesite provide material for studying the religious awareness, belief and art of the prehistoric people, he said.

Source: Xinhua

[blam]

Also:

Archaeologists unearth ancient bamboo relic

Chinese archaeologists have unearthed what is thought to be the oldest bamboo relic in the country, a 7,400-year-old plaited mat, state press said.

The mat was found beneath a woman's skeleton at an archaeological site in the central province of Hunan, Xinhua news agency said.

The mat, which was found in a carbonised state, was interlaced with weft and warp yarn in orderly arranged holes and was dated to the Gaomiao culture in the Neolithic age, the report said.

"The bamboo mat dates back more than 2,000 years older than a bamboo mat, bamboo baskets and other articles excavated in the Liangzhu relic site, a Neolithic site excavated in eastern Zhejiang province," said He Gang of the Hunan provincial archaeological research institute.

"The mat was woven with very thin and refined bamboo strips.

"It seems in appearance to be not very different from modern bamboo wares."

[EggsAckley]

"Phoenix designs unearthed from the Gaomiao Culture ruins show that the original shape owed a lot to the peacock."

AHA!

[mtbopfuyn]

Moreover, discoveries of religious and sacrificial items at thesite provide material for studying the religious awareness, belief and art of the prehistoric people, he said.

Geez, why does every find have to be of a religious nature? People are people, today and yesterday. Why can't historians admit that things very well could have been made simply because the person thought it was pretty.

[joesnuffy]

Man kind has been worshiping satan in one avatar or another that make their appearance in every single culture....Every since that old dragon got himself and his rebels thrown out of Heaven and onto the earth...he has been able to fool ..us fools...

Thankfully the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had mercy on us...came to earth, and took human form.

Thanks to His willing substitutionary death... we might have every lasting life... reconciled to the Father of lights from whom come down all good things...

[RightWhale]

stamped with the design of two flying phoenixes

It is just the brand of the Two Flying Phoenices Jug Company.

[RightWhale]

And if Phil Hendrie tries to say that on air he will get a call from the FCC for real.

[curmudgeonII]

There's got to be a better plural for phoenix than phoenixes.
What about phoenices? As in the plural for appendix.

[Fedora]

Thanks, blam. Some notes I'd add: The oldest written references to the phoenix legend in the works of ancient Greek and Roman writers ("Ancient sources on the mythological bird, besides Clement, are Ovid, Pliny, Tacitus and Herodotus": Phoenix - Bird - The Phoenix) mention the phoenix legend being known in Assyria and Egypt. The peacock is most common from India east, I believe, but was known in the Middle East by the time of the Old Testament (1 Kings 10:22) and was known in Greece by the 5th century (Aristophanes, The Birds). I'm not sure if the Western phoenix is the same as the Chinese one, but one possible connection that comes to mind is a bird-and-snake goddess motif found in Neolithic Eurasia, described in Marija Gimbutas, Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, 6500-3500 B.C.: Myths, and Cult Images, Chapter 7. I clicked on the link to the article you posted to see if there's a picture of the Chinese phoenix design for comparison with Gimbutas' bird-and-snake goddess, but unfortunately the article doesn't seem to have a picture. I'll keep an eye out for further information.

[Fedora]

PS: Just remembered, in Greek myth the peacock was also associated with Hera and her servant Argos/Argus, in a myth which mentions Egypt and Syria and is believed to be influenced by religious cults in those places, and is recorded at least as early as Aeschylus in Prometheus Bound in the 5th century BC (don't remember if it's in Homer or Hesiod, which would be slightly earlier if so).

[farmfriend]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs
List for articles regarding early civilizations , life of all forms, - dinosaurs - etc.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this ping list.

[lizma]

.... because the person thought it was pretty.

LOL. I've noticed that too. I suspect it's a matter of "follow the grant money".

7000 years from now they'll dig up a Revlon factory and somebody will be paid to explore and write about "The Religious Significance of Cosmetic Adornment in 2?00 CE."

[blam]

"7000 years from now they'll dig up a Revlon factory and somebody will be paid to explore and write about "The Religious Significance of Cosmetic Adornment in 2?00 CE."

LOL. I'm a retired chip-maker. I used to wonder about what they'd think when they found all those 'scrapped' (rejects) chips we dumped, those things will be around a million years from now.

[JimSEA]

Southwest Hunan Provence is where Hongjiang City is located and 7,400 years ago is well back in the neolithic. This is less than 700 years after the last of the floods caused by the ice cap melt and only some 200 years after the retreat of the flood to current levels on the Chinese coast. Yet this is quite advanced for the neolithic as a whole in China. It makes one want to see what is under the sea at some of the river deltas.

[freedumb2003]

Gives Clue To Phoenix-Worshipping History

Arizona Legislators Pleased.

[blam]

"Yet this is quite advanced for the neolithic as a whole in China. It makes one want to see what is under the sea at some of the river deltas."

Would be interesting but, I expect everything is covered in silt.

For example: Abraham's seaside home of Ur is now almost 100 miles inland.

[tertiary01]

If it is not of a religious nature than it HAS to be part of a fertility rite. Our ancestors only had two things on their minds according to most of the anthropologists.

[nopardons]

If it helps any, I pulled my book, looked all of the pictures in Chapter 7 and nary a one looks like a phoenix. Most are just bird headed women/women with many different types of engravings...from head to toe,and the ONLY bird represented, is a duck and it really does look like a duck.

[Consort]

It was probably made last year in Sausalito using 7,400 year old clay.

[blam]

"It was probably made last year in Sausalito using 7,400 year old clay."

Can't say. I haven't been to Sausalito since the early 70's.