Academic Journal

THE ASTRONOMICAL MEANING OF SOME JADE ARTIFACTS UNEARTHED AT THE LINGJIATAN SITE. 2: THE JADE PIGS.

التفاصيل البيبلوغرافية
العنوان: THE ASTRONOMICAL MEANING OF SOME JADE ARTIFACTS UNEARTHED AT THE LINGJIATAN SITE. 2: THE JADE PIGS.
المؤلفون: Shi Yunli1 ylshi@ustc.edu.cn
المصدر: Journal of Astronomical History & Heritage. Sep2024, Vol. 27 Issue 3, p503-520. 18p.
مصطلحات موضوعية: *SPRING, *ASTERISMS (Astronomy), *ARCHAEOLOGICAL excavations, *PIGLETS, *SWINE
مستخلص: Three pig-related jade artifacts have been unearthed at the Lingjiatan site of Anhui Province since its first excavation in 1987, i.e. Jade Pig 87M13:1, Jade Eagle 98M29:6 with two piglets on the two wingtips and Jade Pig 07M23:1. From the peculiarities in the burial manner of Jade Pig 07M23:1 and the resemblance of its shape to that of a constellation originally modelled on the pig, this paper tries to explore their meaning. Through a systematic analysis of the textual and archaeological evidence, I will point out that the existence of the pig-shaped constellation can be traced back to the Neolithic period in that area. From a retrospective computer simulation showing that the position of the pig-shaped constellation on the eastern horizon at dawn at the beginning of Spring conformed very well to the peculiar burial posture of Jade Pig 07M23:1 in the era of the Lingjiatan site, I will argue that the latter was seen as a representation of an important celestial phenomenon that anticipated the advent of Spring. On the basis of the early Chinese belief that the Sun was carried through the sky by a bird flying, I will venture that, in the minds of the residents of the Lingjiatan site, Jade Eagle 98M29:6 might have been an emblem of the Sun lodging with the pig-shaped constellation at the beginning of Spring, which made the constellation a remarkable heliacal asterism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
قاعدة البيانات: Academic Search Index
الوصف
تدمد:14402807
DOI:10.3724/sp.j.1440-2807.2024.03.05