ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS 

Artifacts, Antiques, & Fine Collectibles

Neolithic Chinese Ritual Jade Snail/Mollusk Statue

English Translation of Pictographs on this 3 ½ lb. Jade Snail

Hongshan Culture

c. 4500 BCE—2250 BCE

 

 

NOTE:  William D. Houghton, the President of ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS, a State of Washington Licensed Business, assumes all responsibility for the information contained in this description and for the English translation and transcription of the ancient Chinese graphic characters.  Furthermore, I prohibit the further dissemination of this information in any written, video, or electronic format without my expressed, written approval.  Thank You!

 

NOTE:  This item is legal to buy/sell/own under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and is guaranteed to be as described or your money back.  This item will come with a Certificate of Authenticity (COA) from ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS.

Summary

 

This X-RARE, jade snail/mollusk ritual offering dates to China’s Neolithic period and is about 5,000-years-old. 

 

I believe this snail statue would have been included in a tomb or temple of a ruling emperor/warlord/king or his immediate family to provide him with symbolic food as he journeys to eternal life in Heaven (Tian).  Jade statues with pictograph inscriptions/dedications, especially large ones like this snail, were only available to the upper class and are Extremely Rare during the Hongshan Culture (4500 BCE—2250 BCE).

 

After being buried for millennia, the once green nephrite jade snail now has a fantastic, authentic patina that is a beautiful shade of saddle brown. 

 

Approximate Measurements:

 

·       Length: 6.58” (167mm)

·       Height:  3.70” (94mm)

·       Width: 2.72” (69mm)

·       Weight:  3 lb. 8.7 oz (1.61 kg)

 

Condition:  This rare jade offering is in Museum Quality condition, with no repairs or restorations.  Some of the mineral deposits of mostly white calcium have been professionally removed by the previous owners.  This conservatory work has allowed us to see and translate some of the many pictographs that have been incised and pecked into the jade snail—especially on the lower-half of the statue.

 

Dozens of pictographic characters have been percussively pecked onto the surface of this jade snail statue.  These characters represents the power of jade and of the amulet to transport the soul of the departed safely from Earth to the Heavens and eternal life.

Details

 

This lovely jade offering dates to the Neolithic Chinese people known as the Hongshan Culture (4500 BC—2250 BC).  The Liangzhu are believed to have been some of the first people in China to ever use jade as a marker of social status and to include jade offerings in the tombs and temples of their ancestors.  They are also one of the first Chinese cultures to domestic animals for food and sacrifice.  Offering such as this jade snail served as an offering to the Ancestors in Heaven (Tien) to protect the soul of their departed relative against Evil Spirits that could prevent the person’s soul from reaching immortality in Heaven.

Jade (called the “Stone of Heaven” by the Chinese) is considered immortal and regal.  Testifying to how much the Chinese are fond of jade is this time-honored proverb: “Gold may have a price, but jade is priceless.” The value of gold can be determined by measuring its weight. Not jade. The value of a piece of jade is “assessed” by taking numerous factors into account. For example, the luster, purity and color, the sound it produces when struck, and when the jade piece was discovered or when and where a jade artifact was produced can affect a piece’s value.

 

The jade statue likely documents the ritual sacrifice of jade, raw meat, and wine for the Ancestors.  It also serves as a literal symbol of a snail that would come alive in Tian and be a supply food for the departed ancestor.

 

Jade was highly prized by these early civilizations in China, and it was thought to have positive energy to drive away evil spirits and bring good luck and fortune to all who wore a piece on their person--in life and in death. Jade was also believed to be a portal or messenger that could carry prayers to Heaven and send messages to those on Earth from departed ancestors and Gods in Heaven.

 

 

This massive, ritual offering of a jade snail has two sets of curved holes that are called “ox-nose holes” by archaeologists because of the way they curve like those in an ox nose.  It was drilled by hand with slow-speed drills from both sides.  These holes, which are on both sides and top of the snail’s head, are period correct for the Hongshan Culture and have a wonderful patina of micro-crystalline jade growth inside the holes—a sure sign that it is incredibly old.  {see photos}

 

 English Translation of Early Chinese Characters

 

NOTE:  William D. Houghton, the President of ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS, a State of Washington Licensed Business, assumes all responsibility for the information contained in this description and for the English translation and transcription of the ancient Chinese graphic characters.  Furthermore, I prohibit the further dissemination of this information in any written, video, or electronic format without my expressed, written approval.  Thank You!

 

 

As noted above in my summary, this jade statue contains many Chinese pictographic characters that have been incised, painted, and percussively pecked into the jade that serves as an inscription/dedication.  The characters are normally written to offer sacrifice to the Ancestors and plead that they accept the soul of the departed into Heaven (Tien) for eternal life.  Some characters are even small enough to fit inside the eyes of the snail!

 

 

We know that this statue was made in the mid-Hongshan Culture because of the primitive characters, as this Neolithic Culture did not begin using this type of character instead of pictographs (also called graphics) until about 3,500 BCE.  {Ref: Chinese Characters, Wieger, S.J., pg. 366.

 

 

The small size of the pictographs incised into this jade snail was on purpose, as only the eyes of the Ancestors were noble enough to see them; human eyes were not worthy.  This is the first time anyone has translated these characters and inscription since it was first crafted over 5,000-years-ago.   If you’re reading the following translation, you are among the first persons to do so, as this statue has never been on public display.  Congratulations!

 

 

See below for my English translation of a sample of some of these pictographs and symbols that are the earliest written language in ancient China.  As always, any errors in the transcription and translation of the pictographs are solely mine, as very few persons in the world can translate ancient Chinese pictographs.

 

·       On the top of the snail, inside the center of his spiral-shaped shell is the very small, only 12mm long, Fire-Breathing Dragon!  He is tiny, but as the ancient philosopher Shuo Wen said in about 100 AD:  “A Dragon can be unseen or visible, minute or huge, long or short.  However, always it is great.”  This little dragon is best seen under 10x magnification.  {See photo # 10}

·       Directly above the tiny dragon, is even the smaller figure of an Ancestor that is looking down on the dragon.

·       The snail’s spiral shell is also the character for a repeating or revolving cycle, such as the Circle of Life.  They could also represent the thought of continually repeating the prayers to the Ancestors over and over.

·       At the bottom of the snail’s spiral shell, the Son and Grandsons are pictured standing next to several animals that have been offered as sacrifice to the Ancestors so that they may hear their prayers that the soul of their Father/Grandfather may be safely transported to Heaven and given eternal life.

·       Let’s move to the front of snail and look at the center of his eyes.  Inside his right eye is the even smaller 5.6mm tall pictograph of the Son holding a flint knife.  This is the symbol used when the Son sacrifices an animal.{See photos 3-4.}

·       Several other images of sacrificed animals are located on the bottom edge. 

·       Grandsons making offerings.

·       Several images of ancestors diving from Heaven (Tian) to accept the offerings of the Sons and Grandsons.

·       Offerings of ritual wine poured on a bundle of grass and then burned so the prayers could rise with the smoke to the Heavens.

·       And dozens of other graphics/characters that are undecipherable.

 

 

 

Snails in Neolithic China

 

Snails were an abundant source of food in ancient China.  Its shells are abundant in archaeological sites in the Guanzhong Basin of Northwestern China from the Mid to Late Neolithic age. These are remains of prehistoric meals, although the snail appears to have been eaten mainly as a subsidiary food.

 

 

Even today, freshwater snails are found in Chinese markets. The snail is considered a delicacy in China as the meat of the snail is considered delicious, being rich in nutrition, with a high content of protein, and low-fat content. Moreover, in China it is also used as a homeopathic medicine for the treatment of digestive disease.

 

 

Mollusk remains are abundant in archaeological sites in the Guanzhong Basin of Northwestern China, providing good opportunities for investigations into the use of mollusks by prehistoric humans. Here we report on freshwater gastropod and bivalve mollusks covering the time interval from about 5600 to 4500 cal. yrs BP from sites of Mid-Late Neolithic age. They are identified as Cipangopaludina chinensis (which I believe is the species of this jade offering) and Unio douglasiae, both of which are currently food for humans.  The shells are well preserved and have no signs of abrasion. They are all freshwater gastropods and bivalves found in pits without water-reworked deposits and have modern representatives which can be observed in rivers, reservoirs, and paddy fields in the studied region.

 

 

Mollusk shells were frequently recovered in association with mammal bones, lithic artifacts, and pottery. These lines of evidence indicate that the mollusks are the remains of prehistoric meals. The mollusk shells were likely discarded into the pits by prehistoric humans after the flesh was eaten. However, these mollusk remains may not have been staple food since they are not found in large quantities. Mollusks are relatively abundant in pits at archaeological sites in the Guanzhong Basin. As recorded in the excavation reports, there were more than 2500 shells in three pits found in the 1958–1959 excavations at Quanhu.

 

Mollusk shell tools and ornaments are also observed. Shell tools include shell knives, shell reaphooks and arrowheads, whereas shell ornaments are composed of pendants and loops. All the shell tools and ornaments are made of bivalve mollusks and do not occur in large numbers. The finding of these freshwater mollusk remains supports the view that the middle Holocene climate in the Guanzhong Basin may have been warm and moist, which was probably favorable to freshwater mollusks growing and developing in the region.  {Ref:  Mid-Neolithic Exploitation of Mollusks in the Guanzhong Basin of Northwestern China: Preliminary Results, F. Li, edited by David Caramelli, University of Florence, Italy, 2013.}

 

Jade was highly prized by these early civilizations in China, and it was thought to have positive energy to drive away evil spirits and bring good luck and fortune to all who wore a piece on their person--in life and in death. Jade was also believed to be a portal or messenger that could carry prayers to Heaven and send messages to those on Earth from departed ancestors and Gods in Heaven.

 

Jade was used not only to make ceremonial weapons and tools, but was also carved by some Neolithic peoples into ornaments and small animals. Discoveries in northeast China have demonstrated that peoples in Liaoning province, belonging to what is known today as the Hongshan culture (c. 3500 BC), carved animal figures and other ornaments from jade.

 

This ancient amulet is a fine work of art and it is truly a museum quality study piece of great historical significance. 

 

Condition

 

As noted above, although this jade amulet/axe table is lightly pitted and shows some signs of differential weathering, including darkened, natural fissure line in the jade—it has a wonderful ancient patina.  It has not been repaired or restored and is in “as found” condition.

 

The jade pendant has two holes, the smaller one at the top of the amulet that would have been used for suspension around the neck and a larger hole in the center that represents Heaven (T’ien in Chinese).  The holes have been drilled by ancient hand tools at low RPM from both sides of the amulet--see macro photos.  These are period correct and have a wonderful layer of calcium and micro-crystalline jade inside the bore holes--just perfect.

 

I have examined this piece under 10x and 80x magnification and it shows no signs of modern tool marks--only hand tools were used to make this amulet.  It has been cut, carved, shaped, and drilled with ancient hand tools.  I also examined it under Black Light and found no signs of repairs or modern carving.  Modern drills would have drilled the hole straight and true--and not larger on the outer edge of the hole.  Thus, these ancient, drilled holes are another sign that this amulet is original and authentic. 

 NOTE:  This is a stunning, historical masterpiece of Neolithic Chinese jade carving and worthy of the finest collections.  We prefer that this rare and extremely expensive artifact be a “pick-up only” item, and suggest that the new buyer make arrangements for pick up and/or shipping at their own liability and expense.