One of the world's oldest handicraft workshops, dating back more
than 3,600 years, may have been discovered by Chinese
archaeologists in the country's Henan Province.
Covering about 1,000 square meters the workshop used turquoise
to make elaborate and ornate works of art. The workshop was found
in the village of Erlitou of Yanshi City and is part of the ruins
of the imperial city belonging to the Xia dynasty (2100 BC-1600
BC), China's earliest. The imperial city was discovered two years
ago.
At the workshop crafts people made ornaments with inlaid
turquoise, said Xu Hong, head of the team of archaeologists
studying the site. Xu and his colleagues, from the Archaeological
Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, excavated
the area after they found scraps of turquoise in a pit in 2004. The
workshop was likely used for at least 200 years.
Xu said that they also found ruins of a wall around the workshop
which was across a road from the imperial city. "This shows that
the workshop was used to serve the imperial family judging from its
close location to the imperial city," observed Xu.?
In 2002 archaeologists discovered a 70-cm-long turquoise dragon
formed with more than 2,000 pieces of turquoise of various shapes
in the ruins of the palace.
"Probably, the turquoise dragon was made at this workshop," Xu
said.
Chinese archaeologists dubbed the artifacts the "Dragon of
China" saying it was the earliest evidence of the Chinese
fascination with dragons.
In ancient Chinese legends dragons had a scaly body and a pair
of horns. They could walk, fly and swim and had magical powers
which could raise wind and make rain. For Chinese people the dragon
is a symbol of fortune and wisdom and is the intermediary by whom
humans communicate with god and other mysterious beings. For
thousands of years the Chinese have regarded themselves as the
"descendants of the dragon."
Large quantities of raw materials, roughcast and semi-finished
products were found in the workshop making it possible for
archaeologists to study the original techniques used to make
turquoise wares and ornaments, said Xu.
Analysis of turquoise workshop would?help archaeologists
identify the means of production, provide evidence on the location
of mines and inform them of the social structure of the time, added
the expert.
The recent discoveries of the turquoise workshop together with a
bronze casting workshop, the foundations of large palace buildings,
a network of roads and city walls, provided significant evidence
proving the ancient people of Erlitou were sophisticated urban
planners, Xu said.
(Xinhua News Agency August 9, 2006)
