Bringing to light Asian Famous Artefacts.
Group 8 :
Nadhirah bt Mohkthar (66892)
Chin Yi Hui (65650)
Nurezzatul Husna bt Baharudin (67272)
Siti Nazratul Fareha bt Mohammad Bokhori (67747)
Introduction
As well as Asia is a continent of the uniqueness of culture, fascination, and perplexity, ancient places for the sites of archaeology purpose all over Asia is also one of the main tourist attraction not only because of the great discovery of a treasure but also because of the beauty of a finding that has been found back in years. In Asia, human treasure, or as known as artefact had been found by archaeologists at these ancient places. Throughout the years, more artefacts that what we once thought we knew about our history have found. Thus, these artefacts offering new pieces to the regularly changing riddle of humankind’s past and modifying the way we decipher it. These artefacts are significant for archaeologists as well as for the overall population who need to grow their insight into history and culture. This is most likely because it provides fascinating information about the area’s various societies, religious practices, and monetary history. Therefore, there are many famous or interesting artifacts exhibited in museums in Asia. Four famous artifacts in Asia will be introduced with their story and undercover history behind it.
Sanxingdui Bronze Sculptures and Figures
The Sanxingdui Culture represents the earliest phase of the Bronze Age in Sichuan, and the breath-taking artefacts recovered from two sacrificial pits at the Sanxingdui site attest to high accomplishments in bronze technology at this stage. A hoard of bronzes was stored in a gigantic pottery gang jar buried underground, nineteen pieces in the one found in the 1980s. Remarkable discovery a hoard of bronze, with inscriptions indicating that the bronzes were trophies awarded by King Wu of Western Zhou to “Shu” people. The engraving implies that Shu people from Sichuan were allied with Zhou troops in a battle. They are the first written proof from central China to identify western Sichuan as “Shu” (Shen, 2002). Consequently, archaeologists are identifying the Sanxingdui Culture of producing these artefacts with the ancient king of Shu. Thus, the unearthing of the two sacrificial pits of Sanxingdui in 1986 in Guanghan, Chengdu, was unquestionably one of the great events in Chinese archaeology of the twentieth century, therefore the discovery of Sanxingdui in 1987 was a major surprise since it indicated a major semi-Chinese culture that was previously unknown.
The Sanxingdui Culture represents the earliest phase of the Bronze Age in Sichuan, and the breath-taking artefacts recovered from two sacrificial pits at the Sanxingdui site attest to high accomplishments in bronze technology at this stage. A hoard of bronzes was stored in a gigantic pottery gang jar buried underground, nineteen pieces in the one found in the 1980s. Remarkable discovery a hoard of bronze, with inscriptions indicating that the bronzes were trophies awarded by King Wu of Western Zhou to “Shu” people. The engraving implies that Shu people from Sichuan were allied with Zhou troops in a battle. They are the first written proof from central China to identify western Sichuan as “Shu” (Shen, 2002). Consequently, archaeologists are identifying the Sanxingdui Culture of producing these artefacts with the ancient king of Shu. Thus, the unearthing of the two sacrificial pits of Sanxingdui in 1986 in Guanghan, Chengdu, was unquestionably one of the great events in Chinese archaeology of the twentieth century, therefore the discovery of Sanxingdui in 1987 was a major surprise since it indicated a major semi-Chinese culture that was previously unknown.
“The objects found in the sacrificial pits included animal-faced sculptures and masks with dragon ears, open mouths, and grinning teeth; human-like heads with gold foil masks; decorative animals including dragons, snakes, and birds; a giant wand, a sacrificial altar, a 4-meter tall bronze tree; axes, tablets, rings, knives, and hundreds of other unique items. Among the collection was also the world’s largest and best-preserved bronze upright human figure, measuring 2.62 meters.” (Holloway, 2014).
The bronze artefacts were a hoard of jades and stone artefacts were found in Sanxingdui, China back in 1986 that was dated to the 12th century BCE. The unknown bronze artifacts were determined to be from Age civilization, The Shu. According to Ghose (2014), These artefacts were roughly uncovered 3000 years old ago that approximately 1250 – 1100 BCE that suddenly disappeared because of natural disaster such as the massive temblor that may have caused catastrophic landslides, damming up the Sanxingdui culture's main water source and diverting it to a new location. The variation of treasure includes almost 100 tusks, jade, and ceramic pieces, bronze masks, snakes, birds, trees, and ceremonial knives.
The finding unveils the distinctive and mysterious ancient Shu State which was different from the civilization in the Yellow River Valley and had a development timeline. The urban planning and the unearthed relics of the ancient Shu State explain the primitive view on the universe and religion belief which were one of the sources of Chinese urban planning philosophy of “observing heaven and earth”, of the early diverse ideology and culture, and of the following Taoism (UNESCO, 2013). Therefore, the discovery of the Sanxingdui pits as well as the large quantities of bronzes without any question, demonstrate the uniqueness of the Sanxingdui culture and enrich the diversity of understanding Chinese Ancient Civilisation. Hence, this discovery paved the fundamental shift of understanding a single center of enlightenment in north China to the recognition of more regional traditions of which Sichuan was clearly one of the most distinct. (Holloway, 2014).
Dogu: Clay Humanoid in Japan
In other parts of Asia, Japan there are many types of clay humanoid figurines at the number of about 20,000 discovered by the archaeologists at the site. The clay figurines are also known as Dogu. Most of the human or animal alike figurines were produced during as right on time as the Incipient period, at about 14,000 – 4, 000 BCE, which is the first category of the Jomon period (14,000 BC to after 900 BC) of Japanese prehistory. While most were created in the Middle period.
According to Winters (2015), most Japanese art and archaeological scholars agree that these works were most likely evidence of early religious culture and shamanic rituals, given their various possible functions.
Figure 7: Nishinomae Dogu (Standing Dogu), Nishinomae site, Funagata-machi, middle Jomon period (3,000 – 2,000 BC) Source: pinterest.com
Early Dogu were quite small abstract representations of the human figure. Around 4,000 BC, they had their arms and legs and their plains heads. The facets are fully formed by 3,000 BC. Each Dogu is exceptionally stylized. They are not human naturalistic portrayals.
There are different sorts of Dogu figures, ordered into four gatherings, which are heart formed (or bow molded eyebrow), horned-owl type, goggle-looked at type, and pregnant lady type. The different kinds all follow a similar fundamental example, they will in general show up short and overwhelming, with little, wide legs and expansive shoulders and back.
James (2009) stated that the Dogu are both a strongly local type of articulation and furthermore show a mutual inclination by Neolithic people groups far and wide to speak to human structure in earth. Humanoid figures of a practically identical age have been found as far away from home as Mexico, Turkey, Ecuador, Romania, and Egypt. Inquisitively, Japan’s closest neighbors do not seem to have had a proportional custom.
Dogu’s function remains a mystery. For example, the 1960s saw a multiplication of speculations around purported “mother goddess” figures, also called as Jomon Venus. Archaeological evidence believe that they are symbols of fertility, perhaps a desperate appeal to spirits too crude to even think about being caleed divine beings to keep passing under control and sustain life (Hoffman, 2018).
However, the "Venus" hypothesis has declined in prevalence as of late, while researchers chipping away at a crowd of 2,000 figures found at Catalhoyuk in Turkey declared not long ago another theory that the ancient rarities were not ceremonial items, however essentially toys (James, 2009). From an archaeological point of view, an incredibly extreme takeover by the more crowded rice-developing individuals is one motivation behind why Dogu are presently so secretive. After the appearance of the Yayoi, the creation of the clay figures was ceased, implying the absolute overshadowing of the way of life that inspired their assembling (Hasegawa, 2010).
Malaysia Version of Dongson Bronze Drum
Furthermore, one of the famous artefacts found in Southeast Asia is Dongson Drum, made of bronze and iron objects about 600 BC and AD 200, it has been used in many different ethnics group from prehistoric ancient to nowadays (Hirst, 2019). On the other hand, in Malaysia 9 bronze drums found in Malaysia from both Peninsular (eight bronze drums) and East Malaysia (one bronze drum). The total of eight bronze drums were found in the state of Selangor, Terengganu, and Pahang that were accidentally found by chance in incomplete form of tympanum fragment (Adnan et al, 2014). Adnan et al (2014) also mentioned that it interesting that despite been found in Malaysia, bronze drums were also found in other Southeast Asia country for instances, Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Laos, and Indonesia.
This bronze drum is known for its production of metal and the bronze drum has become a popular icon for reference to the emergence and dissemination of Dongson culture in Southeast Asia. Similarly, it is believed that the bronze drums found in Terengganu have their own signatures because motive and decorative patterns are not made from the local community and even imported from overseas Vietnam.
Dongson drum’s design was ornamented that reflect a sea-oriented society, as some elaborate the figured scenes of the friezes like featuring boats and warriors in feather head dresses. While common watery designs such as bird motifs, small animal, boats, fish and geometric symbol of thunder and cloud, as well as long-tailed flying birds and stylized depictions of boats are typical on the bulging upper part of the drums of human figure (Hirst, 2019). Yet, there are six types of motifs and decorative patterns that have been display on the brass drums above. Among the motifs found are stars, triangles, saws, fringed circles, abstract (human) and pale birds. There are also several types of motifs repeated over that bronze. The arrangement of the motifs according to the segment containing the bronze medal of Kampung Batu Buruk 1 is as follows:
Segment A: star motif (10 grandchildren) + triangle motif
Segment B: saw motif
Segment C: circle motif
Segment D: abstract motif (human)
Segment E: pucung motif (12 individuals)
Segment F: rounded motif
Segment G: saw motif
While the second bronze drum was found in Kampung Batu Buruk, it was a pair of the first bronze drums that were found. This second drum is also bigger than the first. The diameter of the second bronze drum was 72.05 cm while the first bronze drum was 55 cm though they have similar feature of each drum.
In a study that focuses on bronze drums found in Selangor Malaysia, the discovery of bronze raised curiosity about the time and meaning behind the decorative motifs, that serve a function to the local back in time (Adnan Jusoh, 2014). Significantly, this artefact is vital to the archaeology field as it has gone through a long history in the area of sea or river routes since the Metal Age, as it proves the trade activities that occurred among locals and people outside of the world. Despite being evidence, it is also argued that bronze drums that have been found also serve to obtain special status in the life of locals as it was a symbol, burial object, and many more (Adnan et al, 2014).
India: Standing Crowned Kurkihar Buddha Sculpture
The craftsmanship of the Pala artisans in North-Eastern India, especially during the 11th/12th centuries, resembles more the works of jewelers than the craft of metalworkers. Among the statues of the Alain Bordier collection is a rare Buddha statue. This brass image represents an ancient replica of the most sacred Buddha image in the whole world – the stone statue of Buddha Sakyamuni inside the Mahabodhi Stupa at Bodhgaya.
Based on the characteristics represented by the regions and periods of origin, there are several variations of Buddha Sculpture or statue. Such differences are possibly due to the locals’ simple adaptation to Buddhism in different locations. The Buddha sculptures in India are mostly affected by the Pala style which mainly through bronze sculpture and palm leaf painting to praise the Buddha and other deities, hence in North-Eastern India, the craftmanship of Pala artisan during 11th and 12th centuries resemble more the works of jewelers than the craft of metal workers as this Buddha statue represent an ancient replica of the most sacred Buddha image in the world (Bardaleeva, 2017). All this Buddha sculpture created during the Pala Period (8th – 12th century). One of the famous Buddha sculptures in India is standing Crowned Kurkihar Buddha sculpture. This is one of the exquisite delegated buddhas made in Kurkihar, this dim bronze is especially amicable and very much protected.
The tall mitotic crown made of triangular panels has a twofold edge decorated with a copper-inlaid and silver motif. Often used for other pieces of the crown, eyes and Urna (spiral or circular dot placed on the forehead of Buddhist images as an auspicious mar), the pattern embossed on his hands' palm and bracelet. His lower lip is made of copper, part of his necklace and possibly his nails.
Traditionally, Shakyamuni holds one piece of his article of cloth in his left hand and shows a dharma wheel in the palm, which for this situation (and numerous others) looks progressively like a bloom.
The Buddha is ordinarily portrayed wearing basic, unadorned monastic costumes. Late in upheaval of Buddhist religious philosophy, be that as it may, there built up an extraordinary type of Buddha wearing a decorated outfit with a crown and rich adornments, which offered ascend to the particular kind of known as Crowned and Jeweled Buddha. Lerner and Kossak (1991) mentioned that this iconography was especially well-known during Pala period in northeastern India. The most popular bronze models are those that date back to the famous collections of the 10th and 11th centuries found in Bihar, Kurkihar in the Gaya region. Jeweled Buddhas are known from Kashmir, and the style can be viewed also in the arts of Afghanistan and central Asia. The fear-allaying gesture (Abhayamudra) showed by the lifted of right hand proposed this is presumably the Buddha of the North, Amoghasiddhi, one of the Five Transcendental Buddhas or Tathagatas. The standard Buddhist creed is inscribed on the reverse of the pedestal.
Conclusion
To put it another way, as a conclusion, there are many artefacts found in the world, especially throughout Asia. Artefacts are an important relic of modern society. Each discovery of an artefact found has its value. Likewise, those finding are so valuable as they become a national treasure of all countries. Therefore, once an artifact is discovered, the proper method needs to be conducted that in a way to not disrupt the artefacts. As the act of looting was always a thing until nowadays, authorities that have official power such as National Museum need to monitor the site and appropriately store the artifacts that can be data to publish for the whole world. Above all, artifacts are made not just to portray past human history, but beyond them, in the thoughts and conversations that flow around the objects. The flexible nature of artifacts, which can be interpreted and reinterpreted, viewed and reviewed, and used to tell many different stories, enables everyone to participate in that search.
Reference
Adnan Jusoh, Z. R. (2014). Bronze Drum in Selangor (Malaysia): The Motif and Significance from Archaeological Perspective. Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology 8(7): 863-870, 863-870.
Bardaleeva, S. (2017). The Buddhist Collection of The Tomsk Regional Museum of Local History. Izvestia of the Ural Federal University. Series 2. Humanities Arts., 34-42.
Ghose, T. (2014, December 24). Mystery of Ancient Chinese Civilization's Disappearance Explained. Retrieved from LivesScience: https://www.livescience.com/49247-chinese-civilization-disappearance-explained.html
Hasegawa, K. (2010, January 21). The Power of Dogu. Retrieved from https://metropolisjapan.com/the-power-of-dogu/
Hirst, K. K. (2019, May 30). Dong Son Drums - Symbols of a Maritime Bronze Age Society in Asia. Retrieved from Thoughtco.: https://www.thoughtco.com/dong-son-drums-bronze-age-169896
Hoffman, M. (2018, November 24). The Jomon Period: Modern Japanese art with ancient beginnings. Thejapantimes. Retrieved from https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/11/24/national/media-national/jomon-period-modern-japanese-art-ancient-beginnings/#.XvGtvGgzbIV
Holloway, A. (2014, March 28). The Mysterious Ancient Artifacts of Sanxingdui that have Rewritten Chinese History. Retrieved from Ancient Origins: https://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena/mysterious-ancient-artefacts-sanxingdui-have-rewritten-chinese-history-001495
James, V. (2009, October 2). The dogu have something to tell us. Retrieved from https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2009/10/02/arts/the-dogu-have-something-to-tell-us/#.XvGt9GgzbIW
Lerner, M. & Kossak, S. (1991). The Lotus Transcendent: Indian and Southeast Asian Art from the Samuel Eilenberg Collection. New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Shen, C. (2002). Anyang and Sanxingdui: Unveiling the Mysteries of Ancient Chinese Civilizations. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum Press.
UNESCO (United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). (2013, January 29). Archaeological Sites of the Ancient Shu State: Site at Jinsha and Joint Tombs of Boat- shaped Coffins in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province; Site of Sanxingdui in Guanghan City, Sichuan Province 29C.BC-5C.BC. Retrieved from UNESCO ( United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization): https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5816/
Winters, R. (2015, February 28). Ancient dogu figurines with large goggle-eyes defy scholarly explanation. Retrieved from https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-other-artifacts/ancient-dogu-figurines-large-goggle-eyes-defy-scholarly-explanation-002722