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Jade find in Antigua produces links to Central America Tuesday June 20 2006 A discovery of ancient jade could shake up old notions of the New World before Columbus. Scientists say they have traced 1,500-year-old axe blades found in the eastern Caribbean to ancient jade mines in Central America 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) away, New York’s American Museum of Natural History announced late last month. The blades were excavated in the late 90s by a Canadian archaeologist on the island of Antigua in the West Indies But the jade used to make the blades almost certainly came from Maya mines...

Chinese archaeologists find 'world's oldest earrings' July 27, 2004 Chinese archaeologists have discovered earrings they believe are the oldest found in the world. The jade earrings, which date to between 7500 and 8200 years ago, were unearthed at the Xinglongwa culture site in Chifeng city in Inner Mongolia, the Xinhua news agency said yesterday. The jade rings, called "Jue" in old Chinese, have diameters that measure 2.5 to six centimetres. Liu Guoxiang, head of an archaeological team under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said it was "magnificent" that the earrings were found in pairs that were almost similar in...

Inner Mongolia Yields New Discoveries More than 80 leading archeological experts are participating in an international conference in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, to exchange the latest information on Hongshan, a prehistoric relics site. Relics excavated at the Hongshan ("Red Mountain") site originated around 5000 BC to 6500 BC. Now a part of Chifeng City, the site was discovered in 1935. Some of the relics found at Hongshan have led archeologists to conclude that the heads of Chinese dragons may have been inspired by boars in addition to horses and cattle. Primitive people who struggled to survive by fishing and...

Jade Bear-Dragons Corroborate Yellow Emperor Legend For centuries Huangdi (the Yellow Emperor), legendary ruler and ancestor, lived only in the hearts and minds of the Chinese people and in the words of legends written down in antiquity. But in recent years, intriguing new clues have been emerging from the Neolithic Hongshan Culture. Over 5,000 years ago this was to be found in today's Liaoning Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Hongshan is world-famous for its many jade artifacts. Among these, it is the so-called bear-dragons unearthed in recent years that have provided the first hard archaeological evidence to add credence...

A mother lode of jade solves Maya mystery Hurricane exposes ancient mines Wednesday, May 22, 2002 By WILLIAM J. BROAD THE NEW YORK TIMES For half a century, scholars have searched for the source of the jade that the early civilizations of the Americas prized above all else and fashioned into precious objects of worship, trade and adornment. The searchers found some clues to the source of jadeite, as the precious rock is known, for the Olmecs and Mayas. But no lost mines came to light. Now, scientists exploring the wilds of Guatemala say they have found the mother lode...