Posted on 08/16/2006 4:05:21 PM PDT by blam
Neolithic stone carving of Big Dipper discovered in northwest China
A neolithic stone carving of the Big Dipper star formation has been found on Baimiaozi Mountain near Chifeng City in northwest China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to experts.
The stone carving was discovered by Wu Jiacai, a 50-year-old researcher in literature and history with Wongniute Banner of Inner Mongolia.
Wu found a large yam-shaped stone, 310 centimeters long, onto which 19 stars had been carved. The representation of the Big Dipper is on the north face of the stone.
The stars are represented by indentations in the stone. The biggest indentation is 6 centimeters in diameter and 5 centimeters deep, said Wu.
"The stone was carved by neolithic dwellers," said Gai Shanlin, researcher with the Inner Mongolia Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (IMICRA) and an expert in stone carving.
The carving style proves this, said Gai. Astronomers' conjectures about the shape of the Big Dipper some ten thousand years ago also match the carving.
"Finding a stone carving in China's desert hinterland is a rare occurrence," said Tala, director of IMICRA, who said it might help prove how ancient celestial bodies evolved.
Apart from the Big Dipper, Wu also found some "unexplained images" on the stone. He thinks they may depict ancient gods, such as the god of the sun and the god of horses. Further study would be needed to determine when the pictures were painted.
Many neolithic jade articles from the Hongshan Culture - such as a dragon with a pig's mouth and a cloud-shaped pendant - have already been unearthed around Baimiaozi Mountain.
The Hongshan Culture was an aboriginal culture that existed in northern China about 6000 years ago.
Tala believes the discovery will contribute to knowledge about the origin and spread of Hongshan Culture.
Source: Xinhua
GGG Ping.
Yeah , but what about the "Big Bopper"
So, he found a petrified yam about 10 feet long. It is of vital importance to the security of food supply that we learn how to grow such tubers.
"Put the seat down".
How do they know it's the representation of a constellation and not just a random bunch of dents?
That is my theory.
You know the rules! Pictures, please.
Because a random bunch of dents would look like an evangelical sunday.
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Thanks for the ping.
1. Yam shaped stone, 310 CM long: which is the "north face"? More properly, which face was north, when carved?
2. cloud-shaped pendant - have already been unearthed around Baimiaozi Mountain. I've seen many shapes in clouds, but never a "cloud shaped" something else.
Is he sure it isn't a drawing of an amoeba, as seen through the fabled, ancient Chinese lenses? That could make the indentations on "north face" depictions of the nuclei in the amoeba.
If so, this discovery could be even more series than he thinks...with very hugh implications, indeed!
Now if it had been Canis Major, it would've been a really Sirius find......
Ursa major would look very little like it does today from 6000 years ago.
:')
Just because they carved the representation of what they saw in the sky doesn’t mean they thought it looked like the “Big Dipper” or attributed the alignment of the celestial bodies as representing any object they might have put a name to. Rather someone long ago looked up and carved into stone what he or she saw in the heavens. It is us who say – yes I know that object too and we call it the Big Dipper.
If an ancient carving depicts a tree, we recognize and know that the image represents what we know as a tree. I think the significance of these finds is that ancient people were in awe of and inspired by the same things in nature that we still find awe inspiring today.
It’s kind of nice that some things have been constant and unchanging over such a great span of time and the same things that touched us also touched our ancestors so long ago.
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