Do you believe in dragons?

Chinese archaeologists studying cultural relic sites near Chifeng City of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region are seeking to replace the mystery behind China's eternal symbol with historical insight.

After studying the prehistoric Hongshan relics in Chifeng, archaeologists say Chinese dragon heads may have been inspired by boars in addition to horses and cattle.

More than 80 leading experts from China and abroad met in Chifeng late last month to exchange the latest information on Hongshan, a relics site dating back some 6,500 to 5,000 years. The site, whose name means "red mountain," was discovered in 1935.

Traditional Chinese dragon worship developed from primitive people who struggled to survive by fishing and hunting. They thus appreciated and revered important food resources such as pigs, deer, birds and snakes, said Tian Guanglin, an archaeologist with the Liaoning Normal University.

The dragon image coalesced into animal-head and snake-body in the Hongshan cultural period and remained unchanged until the Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220), nearly 4,000 years later. Dragon images from Hongshan were the earliest standard image of dragons discovered in China, said Tian.

The largest and most vivid discovery is a jade, pig-headed dragon about 26 centimeters long and bent like the letter "C." It had a pig head, snake body, tight-lipped snout, bulging eyes and a hole dug in its back, said Liu Guoxiang, an archaeologist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

Many pig bones were found buried with the deceased at Hongshan sites, indicating pig had already been a very important animal at that time and might have symbolized prosperity, said Sarah M. Nelson, an archaeologist from the University of Denver in the United States.

Academics continue to discuss various theories of the dragon's origins. Some believe the dragon body originated from lizards, crocodiles or snakes, while the head originated from horses or cattle. The pig-headed dragon was discovered exclusively in the Hongshan area, stretching from the southeastern Inner Mongolia to western Liaoning Province in northeastern China.

Chinese dragon worship in the prehistoric age could be divided into three systems: the pig-headed dragon in northern China, the snake-headed and human-bodied dragon in central China and the crocodile-headed dragon in eastern China.

The pig-headed dragon from Hongshan provided for the first time archaeological evidence that Chinese dragons originated in primitive societies. It was also the most primitive dragon worship system ever discovered.

Meanwhile, archaeologists have determined that the Xiaohexi site at Aohan Banner near Chifeng City, dating back 8,500 years, was the earliest prehistoric civilization site in the northeastern part of the country.

This latest dating was 300 years earlier than the archaeologists formerly believed.

The Xiaohexi Culture only had smaller-sized primitive villages, whose houses were built partly underground.

People living in that period had learned how to polish stone tools, according to Liu Guoxiang from the Research Institute of Archaeology under the CASS.

This was the earliest Neolithic culture in the northeastern part of China, Liu said.

"The mystery of the Neolithic Xiaohexi Culture has begun to be unveiled," said Liu.

"Though only three sites of the culture have been unearthed, more than 300 artifacts, including various pottery mugs and vases as well as various bone and stone utensils have been discovered," Liu added.

Among the artifacts, there was a 5-centimetre-tall, half-palm-sized pottery statue of a human face. The earliest of its kind in the northeastern regions, it might have been used for worshipping or sacrificial offerings, Liu reckoned.

Typical stone tools at the Xiaohexi site included larger tools with a hole at the center and smaller tools with a hollow cut at the center. The designs were seldom seen in Neolithic cultures in China, which remained mysterious to archaeologists.

"Only tests and experiments can explain the use of these stone tools, as different scratches would be left by wood and meat cutting and mud digging," said Professor Yan Wenming with Peking University, who is also the Vice-Chairman of the China Archaeology Society.

Discovered in 1987, the Xiaohexi site had coarse pottery utensils with no ornamental designs on their surface. Archaeologists believe that it is easier to determine an archaeological time with pottery than with stone or bone utensils.

Northeastern China is an important birthplace for prehistoric cultures in northeastern Asia. And Xiaohexi Culture is seen as one of the most important archaeological discoveries after the famous Hongshan Culture, a Neolithic culture dating back 6,500-5,000 years in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia.

(China Daily August 9, 2004)