Archaeologists Find Dragon Artefacts

Chinese archaeologists claim they have discovered material evidence explaining the belief that "Chinese people are descended from the dragon," an old saying that dates back thousands of years. Their conclusion was based on the research results of many jade dragons unearthed at Niuheliang, a site of the Hongshan Culture dating back 5,500 to 6,000 years, in the northeastern province of Liaoning, said Guo Dashun, a leading member of the Archaeology Society of China, yesterday. Located between the counties of Jianping and Lingyuan, the Niuheliang ruins cover 50 square kilometers and have yielded such relics as prehistoric pottery and jade ware. Discoveries of the head of a "goddess of Hongshan" and an ancient kingdom ruins which consisted of altars, temples and tombs startled the world in 1984. But what attracted the interest of archaeologists most were three jade dragons. Guo said the dragon looked the same as the two jade dragons unearthed at the same area in 1984 and their shape was exactly like the pictographic character "long" (dragon) used in ancient China.

The Liaohe River runs through northeastern provinces of Liaoning and Jilin, the eastern part of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and northern Hebei Province and is regarded as one of the cradles of Chinese civilization. Guo said the jade dragons unearthed in the region showed the dragon worshipped by Chinese people was a combination of several animals, with its original shape coming from pig, deer, bear and bird. It comes into the final shape through long-term artistic processing. This evolutionary process is closely linked to the origin and development of Chinese civilization, Guo said. Enditem

Article
news.xinhuanet.com...

Anyone see the Mario brothers movie?
That won't make sense if you didn't..

There is no doubt that dragons existed along side human. their presence is recorded throughout ancient history.. after all we have dinosaur bones, whole massive beastly skeletons. and that is all we have we just make up what the dinosaur looked like, what it ate, and how it died.... why not stop speculating and just read the Lore of the past,, after all it is a written account of people actualy comming in contact with them. the chineese culture is deeply indulgent in dragon lore, it is more likely that dragons where earth bound dinosaurs, rather than flying 20 ton beasts. and people are always going to exagerate. so im sure that the acctual beast crossed over into myth and lore, and were slowly killed off for food or some other resourse. we are good at makin things go extinct, the Buffalo narrowly escaped, and if it did all there would be are some small bone carvings made by Indians, and some far out Indian tales of how huge and scary they were.

Truly one of the great questions of our age, did Dragons exist? There is so much reference to them that I find it most difficult to totally discount this idea.

I have a dragon... Free eggs if you want them

So in 5000 years they have evolved from Quadriped flying animals to bipedal homosapiens...

I don't think so.

Neat stuff dreamrebel.

I think many times people under estimate the effects of thousands of years of the "telephone game" and how one thing transforms into another. Just look at language... A few hundred years and even words lose thier meaning. Seems the same could go on with just about anything.

The egyptians also had a conglomerate god like creature too. We have TONS of them also many carried over from our past including the greeks, romans, and many older europeans, like griffons, pegasi, unicorns, and so on.

I don't discount that a creat now extinct could have kept the legends going, but i think the power of human imagination and story telling to be a more likely source.

Agreed, Quest & Nerdling. Dragon's one of my totems (Chinese Dragon, in fact) and I've done a little study on it. There's a lot of evidence for it developing as a combination of animals for storytelling and none for it as a racial memory of a dinosaur or surviving dinosaur.

I'd tend to believe (as was speculated) that early dragon myths in the Pacific area were influenced by the saltwater crocodile. The shape's about right for a croc.

oh it just happens that my chinese name is "joyful dragon" and I am born in the year of the dragon, and NOW some guy thinks us chinese were descended from dragons?

So in 5000 years they have evolved from Quadriped flying animals to bipedal homosapiens...

I don't think so.

Bing! Bing! Bing!

Actually though, I think the dragon (in the western civilizations) is based on sightings of surviving dinosaur flyers (such as the pteradactyl-like ones, etc.), whereas the asian dragons are based on sightings similar to one of the crocodile's ancestors....

Originally posted by Jaypeth
There is no doubt that dragons existed along side human. their presence is recorded throughout ancient history.. after all we have dinosaur bones, whole massive beastly skeletons. and that is all we have we just make up what the dinosaur looked like, what it ate, and how it died.... why not stop speculating and just read the Lore of the past,, after all it is a written account of people actualy comming in contact with them. the chineese culture is deeply indulgent in dragon lore, it is more likely that dragons where earth bound dinosaurs, rather than flying 20 ton beasts. and people are always going to exagerate. so im sure that the acctual beast crossed over into myth and lore, and were slowly killed off for food or some other resourse. we are good at makin things go extinct, the Buffalo narrowly escaped, and if it did all there would be are some small bone carvings made by Indians, and some far out Indian tales of how huge and scary they were.

Well there are plenty of buffalo hides - not to mention photos of them from that era too.

The article claims the chinese scientists believe the chinese Dragon was simply an amalgamation of three common animals, which developed over many centuries into what it is today. Is that possible? Yes, of course. But it's also possible that real live dinosaurs were the original inspiration too. There are far too many drawings and carvings from all over the world - many of them ancient, that depict dinosaurs... It's an interesting mystery.

Jimbo

Everyone knows that sheep are the moral enemies of Dragons.

I think that Dragons exist, there is too much common myth in all cultures around the globe. I don't think they were based on several different animals. A Dragon is my spirit guide, and best explains my personality. I don't think humans came from Dragons, but they can influence our spiritual natures.

Maybe they evolved into chickens.

[edit on 15-10-2007 by LDragonFire]

Originally posted by Quest
Neat stuff dreamrebel.

I think many times people under estimate the effects of thousands of years of the "telephone game" and how one thing transforms into another. Just look at language... A few hundred years and even words lose thier meaning. Seems the same could go on with just about anything.

The egyptians also had a conglomerate god like creature too. We have TONS of them also many carried over from our past including the greeks, romans, and many older europeans, like griffons, pegasi, unicorns, and so on.

I don't discount that a creat now extinct could have kept the legends going, but i think the power of human imagination and story telling to be a more likely source.

Well, one piece of evidence that contradicts some of this assumption is of course the Ica Stones. Discoverd in Peru, these depictions of humans AND dinosaurs are reputed to be thousands of years old...and that's just one curious example. There are many more. Here's a link...

www.paranormality.com...

Jimbo

[edit on 15-10-2007 by jimbo999]

reply to post by jimbo999


I don't know if I would be mentioning the Ica Stones if I were you...most regard those as a long-exposed hoax.

en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 15-10-2007 by uberarcanist]

Originally posted by Byrd
... and none for it as a racial memory of a dinosaur or surviving dinosaur.

I've always wondered about the notion of genetic or species memory that is separate from instinct. Jungian archetypes is an interesting idea, but the way I understand it, it's not based in genetics, but rather from a psychological resonance or recognition of recurring images and themes in a social construct. So along with encountering big crocodiles and other reptiles, The Dragon image also builds upon sexual themes and imagery, which link it to a naturally wild, untamed portion of the human experience.

I can't say as there's ever been a real genetic memory recognized as such. We're so socially immersed and enculturated that I don't even know how you would separate a genetic dream from a common cultural image you might learn as a kid. Maybe the whole notion of genetic memory is a myth. I don't know how you'd find one. Like looking for a diamond in a pile of broken glass.

[edit on 15-10-2007 by Nohup]

reply to post by Nohup


Is it really from racial/genetic memory that legends of these beasts spring, or is it merely from fossils? Think about it, China has some of the world's richest fossil beds, it's not inconceivable that some ancient Chinese could have found these fossils and made legends about these strange, enormous creatures that died long ago.

I subscribe to the theory that misunderstood fossil discoveries led to dragon myths

.02

Originally posted by uberarcanist
Is it really from racial/genetic memory that legends of these beasts spring, or is it merely from fossils? Think about it, China has some of the world's richest fossil beds, it's not inconceivable that some ancient Chinese could have found these fossils and made legends about these strange, enormous creatures that died long ago.

No, not genetic memory. No way to prove that such a thing even exists, I don't think. Maybe fossils, along with alligators, snakes and crocodiles. Although I've never heard of anyone in China making the cognitive leap from seeing a fossil in a rock and chipping it out and putting it together to see what it might have looked like. There would have been somebody ahead of the game.

In our modern world, animals are just animals. In the past, they used to represent something, particularly in stories. The Dragon was probably needed to tell a particular kind of story, an excuse for a hero to be heroic and save the village, so it was invented.

Originally posted by uberarcanist
reply to post by Nohup

 

Is it really from racial/genetic memory that legends of these beasts spring, or is it merely from fossils? Think about it, China has some of the world's richest fossil beds, it's not inconceivable that some ancient Chinese could have found these fossils and made legends about these strange, enormous creatures that died long ago.

I think we have a winner. Imaging going from your mud hut down to the water to find yourself staring at a skull akin to a T-Rex (whatever the chinese version of it was). What would you think?