In ancient China, dating back to at least 5,000 BC, large stone discs were placed on the bodies of Chinese aristocrats, however their original function still eludes scientists, as does the way in which they were made considering they were carved out of Jade, an extremely hard rock.
Jade is a precious hardstone that is made of different silicate minerals and is often used to make vases, jewellery and other ornaments. It is usually colourless, but contamination from other materials such as chrome normally gives it an emerald greenish colour, and it comes in two main types: nephrite and jadeite. Give the hardness of the stone, Jade is an extremely difficult material to work with, which makes it perplexing as to why the ancient Neolithic inhabitants of China chose this stone, considering that they did not have metal tools at the time.
The Jade discs, often called bi discs, are round flat rings created from nephrite by the Liangzhu culture during the late Neolithic Period. They appear to have been very important to their society because they have been found to be laid on the bodies of the dead in almost all important tombs of the Hongshan culture (3800 – 2700 BC), and carried on into the Liangzhu culture (3000 – 2000 BC), which used large and heavy discs. The stones were place in prominent positions on the body of the deceased, usually near the stomach or the chest, and often contained symbols relating to the sky. The Chinese word for jade is ‘YU’ which means pure, treasure, and noble.
Since they were made in a period of time that no metal tools existed, according to archaeologists they were probably made initially through brazing and polishing, which would take an extremely long time to achieve. However one thing is obvious, that the Jade Discs were made by skilful people, using a material used that is rare and extremely difficult to work with. So the obvious question here is ‘Why?’.
It is logical to assume that the importance of those stone discs may be connected to their Gods ‘coming from the sky’, or on the other hand, it could just be a representation of the Sun or of the wheel – as it was during the Zhou Dynasty. During a war, the loser had to hand over the Jade Disks as a sign of submission to the conqueror, which shows the importance of the Jade stones and that they weren’t merely ornaments.
Then there is a matter of the Dropa stones, which coincidentally have the same shape and even though the story of the Dropa stones is based on David Agamon’s 1978 book titled ‘Sungods in Exile’, the truth is that stories about the Dropa stones pre-existed David Agamon’s ‘science fiction’ book. Is it possible that the Liangzhu Jade stones are related to the Dropa stones? And if yes, then it seems they would be related to the ‘Gods’ (as the Dropa stones apparently were) and thus the importance of them is apparent.
The Smithsonian Institute shows a great interest in Jade Discs and has invested a lot into researching them, not to mention that they have a stock of more than 150 Jade disks at their disposal.
Jade discs have been a puzzle to archaeologists for centuries, but because they were made in a period of time that no writing existed, their significance is still unknown to us and the question of ‘Why’ remains unanswered.
By John Black
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