Posted on 09/12/2004 5:22:24 PM PDT by blam
Ancient pot with horse-taming picture discovered
www.chinaview.cn 2004-09-12 16:15:58
LANZHOU, Sept. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Archaeologists in the northwestern province of Gansu discovered a 3,000-year-old pot with a design showing a scene of horse-pasturing in Minqin County recently.
The painted design shows a man herding eight horses. Some of these horses are bucking and some stand quietly; some have tails and some do not. All of the horses have large buttocks, slender waists and thin legs.
Surrounded by the eight horses, the wide-shouldered, slender-waisted man is in a long gown. His physique and dress are quite similar to those of ethnic people living in the horse-taming area,said Wang Haidong, Vice Chairman of the Gansu Provincial Painted Pottery Research Institute.
The pot, 22 centimeters high and 24 centimeters in diameter, has a pair of symmetrical handles on each side of its body and a sunken bottom.
It's body is painted with complicated pictures and images, and alternating black and red broken lines. The most eye-catching of these pictures is the image of the man and the horses.
This is the first time that ancient painted pottery with a horse-pasturing picture has been discovered in China, Wang said, adding that the picture indicates that horses were domesticated inChina as long as 3,000 years ago.
Previously, only ancient painted pottery with images of donkeys,sheep, dogs and pigs had been found in China.
The images of horses and drawing lines on the picture are similar to those from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), indicating that horse drawing skills used in the Tang Dynasty might have been borrowed from ancient pottery painting, said Wang.
Wang said discovery of the horse-pasturing picture was significant not only in the study of development of human beings and painted pottery, but also in the study of the history of traditional Chinese painting.
The discovery provides support for the idea that traditional Chinese painting originates from patterns on ancient painted pottery, Wang noted. Enditem
GGG Ping.
Maybe a keyword like GGG ("Gods, Graves, Glyphs") would be useful for these posts?
Wait till this turns into a WOsD thread...but an excellent read.
Horses were a source of food weren't they?
Dammit you beat me to it!
Sorry 'bout that.
As I recall in reading about indo-european language history, the region where Tocharian was spoken was in the neighboring province to the west of Gansu. Tocharian being one of the more ancient indo-european languages.
I also remember something about some archeological finds of tall red haired men wearing tartan kilts near here. I believe there are also some blue eyed Chinese in this area as well today.
None of these things fit well with "official" Chinese history, however.
I know horses; just about the time you get them trained to the pot, they leave home and take up with loose mares.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
You are correct...I always forget, thanks.
Yes. Tocharian A & B is an ancient and extinct language and is most closely related to ancient Celtic.
"I also remember something about some archeological finds of tall red haired men wearing tartan kilts near here. I believe there are also some blue eyed Chinese in this area as well today. "
Yes again. Below is a link to a post that covers this subject. Also, The Han emperors green eyes were lamented in many Chinese poems. And, their magic men were reported to have had red hair.
The Curse Of The Red-Headed Mummy
"None of these things fit well with "official" Chinese history, however."
Correct. I've spent some time studying this area and I'm about ready to declare that at one time there were more Caucasian types in China than there were Chinese as we know them today. I've already said that I would Be the least suprised if/when they open the tomb of the first emperor, a tall red-headed guy is found.
www.chinaview.cn 2004-01-12 20:52:43
CHONGQING, Jan. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Archaeologists in southwest China's Chongqing municipality have unearthed more than 20 pieces of brick reliefs from a tomb of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 A.D.-220 A.D.).
Lin Bizhong, a noted archaeologist with the Chongqing MunicipalArchaeological Team, said this was the first time that bricks withmolded designs had been unearthed in Chongqing.
Previously, such tomb bricks had been excavated from Sichuan province, southwest China, and have been included as relics under state key protection.
Lin acknowledged that the brick-and-stone-structured tomb, from which brick reliefs were unearthed, had been robbed, so they did not find anything valuable in the tomb besides the bricks.
Designs on the bricks include horse-drawn carriages accompaniedby honor guards, the image of Fuxi, or the sun god in ancient China, and images of high-nosed and hollow-eyed people, who might be from varied ethnic groups or foreigners.
According to experts, designs of horse-drawn carriages with honor guards indicated that the tomb owner was of high social status, bricks with the image of Fuxi were important materials forstudying religion and culture at that time, and the images of foreigners reflected cultural exchanges between the East and West in Eastern Han dynasty.
Moreover, archaeologists also found traces of red color on these bricks and held that might be traces of color painting. End item
Would it be correct to call them nightmares?
"All-night" mares.
Apologies to Willie Nelson.
BTTT
So what happened to the Caucasian / Celts? Wiped out, didn't procreate as fast, driven West, didn't like the smell 0f Chinese cooking?
Great. The face of Kerry's progeny shows up in China.
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