Among the relics discovered at the Yuanbaoshan archaeological site in the city of Qifeng are 3 jade dragons of different colors and sizes, each of which is over 5,000 years old.
One of the jade dragons, the size of a palm and emerald green in color, is the largest of its kind found in northern China, Xinhua News Agency reported.
These "pig-headed dragons" differ significantly from more modern depictions of the mythical beast. They are associated with the Stone Age Hongshan culture, which once flourished in Inner Mongolia and nearby Liaoning and Hebei provinces.
This ancient culture is known for making some of the earliest jade artifacts in the world, especially as part of funerary rituals.
"The variety of jade artifacts discovered fills important gaps in our understanding of the use of jade by this ancient civilization," says Sun Jinsong, director of the Inner Mongolia Institute of Cultural Property and Archaeology.
The human remains and pottery found at the site show that the artifacts do indeed belong to the Khongshan culture.
So far, more than 1,100 sites of the Honshan culture have been excavated, mostly in southeastern Inner Mongolia and western Liaoning.
The mound discovered in the latest excavation is the largest ever found in Inner Mongolia associated with the Honshan culture.
The sites of this culture are also some of the earliest examples of the Chinese art of feng shui, which uses astronomy to discover the connections between people and the universe.
One of the relics unearthed in recent excavations is a jade headdress resembling an artifact made by another distant culture in present-day Anhui province. | BGNES
