The Chinese are facing a civilization as ancient as their own.
"About 150 unearthed artifacts, which have been unknown not only to the Chinese public, but to the world in general, have been brought to China for the first time as the first part of an exhibition about Amazonia at the Palace Museum," said Cristianna Barreto with the exhibition agency BrasilConnects.
Barreto co-curates the exhibition with anthropologist Grupioni from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Barreto's part, titled "Ancient Amazonia," includes projectile tips used for hunting and fishing, which were made of chert more than 10,000 years ago, and axe blades made of polished granite and basalt, which were commonly used in the Amazon in pre-colonial times and have been preserved as ritual objects among a few indigenous groups.
The stone artifacts show the region has been occupied by foraging groups for at least 10,500 years, and that sedentary villages had already been established at least 6,000 to 5,000 years ago, explained Barreto.
The most amazing artifacts in this part of the exhibition are the ornaments made of translucent stones, which have been rare finds in Amazon archaeological sites.
The small, delicate, dark green, pink and yellow stones, looking much like jades, are actually varieties of nephrite and quartz.
Made into various designs by ancient Indians with great imagination, they can still arouse a girl's strong desire for possession today.
Among them there is an extremely beautiful bat-shaped dark stone ornament.
Three centimeters wide, 10.5 centimeters long and 1 centimeter thick, the "bat" has two long "wings" with simple, smooth and graceful lines.
Most stone ornaments unearthed are small pendants in the shape of frogs, but those of other animals, including fish, birds and bats, and in human forms have also been found, said Barreto.
Although their exact use is still a matter of conjecture, it is plausible to view them as prestige items traded among local pre-colonial Amazon elites, she added. This part of the exhibition also features a number of pottery artifacts.
The pottery of the Amazon dates back more than 8,000 years, making it the earliest on the American Continent and also one of the earliest in the world, said Barreto.
Most impressive among the pottery artifacts on show are the funeral urns painted with complicated patterns and fabulous colors.
Since around 2,000 years ago, the bodies of the dead have been put into such urns, mostly in a seated position. They have been found from Marajo Island at the mouth of Amazon to its upper reaches, said Barreto.
Instead of being buried underground, such urns were kept in caves or shelters to allow permanent access, she added.
The exhibition also includes 10 interesting pubic covers.
The covers, called tanga by most indigenous groups, are usually about 12 centimeters long, 15 centimeters wide and 5 centimeters thick.
A woman had to wear a tanga during ceremonial activities.
Most tangas found in the Amazon are plain ones that belonged to women of lower status, but those displayed at the exhibition are decorated with highly intricate motifs.
The repetition and distribution of geometric motifs on tanga is believed to represent a variety of information about the wearer's identity, such as group affiliation and social status, explained Barreto.
Among the about 20 pottery figurines on show is a 27-centimeter-tall one that is a combination of a pregnant jaguar and a pregnant woman.
Such figures combining human and animal attributes are common throughout Amazonian mythologies, said Barreto.
"Indigenous Amazonians have developed a different way of conceiving the relation between humans and other natural beings, or between culture and nature," she said.
"They don't see themselves as being much different from other natural beings," she added.
(China Daily June 1, 2004)
