“Griffin and I have become experts on star-mapping the hard way.” Cassie smiled ruefully. “Calendar stones in Turkey, more calendar stones in Africa, solar observatories in India. The list goes on.”
“Then you can appreciate the level of astronomical sophistication the Hongshan possessed.” Jun walked toward an aerial photograph on the wall of the exhibit room. The others followed.
He pointed to an image that looked like a long rectangular strip of furrowed earth on top of a hillside. Sprouting from the sides of the rectangle were asymmetrical lobes. “This is the dig site of the goddess temple.”
“Why is it called that?” Cassie asked.
“Because numerous votive figurines were discovered inside—all of them female.”
Jun turned toward a glass case on his right. “Here’s an example.”
They all studied a nude figure of a kneeling woman made from polished jade.
“Of course, this is a small specimen,” Jun said. “Inside the temple itself were many oversized pottery figures of females, some of them three times life-size. Archaeologists assumed the statues were of the divinities which the Hongshan worshipped. The most striking image of a goddess is right here.” He walked a few feet further down the gallery and paused before a life-size clay head of a woman.
“This was found in the underground temple. The body had been broken apart, but the head is still intact. It would have originally been painted red. Dated to 3000 BCE, it is the oldest known goddess figure ever discovered in China.”
Cassie felt herself mesmerized by the face. The eyes were inlaid with two large globes of greenish jade. The full lips were curved into a Mona Lisa smile. The deity’s features conveyed strength, unlike the prettified sculptures of overlord goddesses. The Hongshan goddess was mysterious and a trifle scary while being vaguely benevolent at the same time.
Griffin broke into her thoughts. “Doesn’t all this remind you of something?”
She stared at him uncomprehendingly.
“Oversized female divinities. Underground temples. The lobed shape of the structure itself,” he prompted.
Her eyes widened in recognition. “Malta. This is like the temples we found on Malta.”
“Oh yes, it’s quite possible,” Jun chimed in.
Cassie whirled to look at him. “You mean Niuheliang was built by some Maltese goddess-worshippers?”
The trove keeper chuckled. “No, but the two cultures were roughly contemporary. Each flourished around 3000 BCE.”
“But Malta is thousands of miles away,” the pythia objected.
“You’d be surprised how far-ranging the trade routes were back then.”
Griffin spoke. “Mainstream historians have fostered the belief that Stone Age cultures sprang up in isolation from one another. The kinds of trade goods that have been found in Turkey and in the Americas, originating from thousands of miles away, contradict conventional theories of an insular Neolithic world.”
“Certainly, we have evidence that the Hongshan traded with nomads from the steppes.” Jun gestured for the group to follow him past several more glass cases.
Rou stuck to him as persistently as a shadow and just as silently.
He paused before a case of Hongshan jewelry. “You see. Copper rings.”
“Is that unusual?” Cassie asked warily.
“Indeed, it is.” Jun chuckled. “The Hongshan did not produce these rings. At that point in time, the nearest copper-working people would have been the Afanasevo culture—Caucasian steppe nomads who ranged across central Asia.”
“You mean overlords?” Cassie felt shocked. “They came this far east?”
“Most assuredly, though distinct proof of their presence is to be found centuries later and many miles away. Since the Hongshan Culture bears no other marks of overlord coercion, the Afanasevo may have merely traded with the inhabitants of this region. Copper rings aren’t the only evidence of outside influence. Look at these.” He gestured toward a case which contained small pieces of turquoise jewelry. “Though some turquoise has been found in Liaoning, it was more typically sourced from central Asia. That’s the same area where the Afanasevo originated just as the Hongshan culture reached its peak. The Hongshan sites also disclose black-on-red painted pottery which was imported as well.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Cassie watched as Rou quietly unzipped the collar of her jacket to reveal a perfectly normal mouth and chin. Given all the camouflage, the pythia had convinced herself that the girl might have some facial deformity she’d wanted to hide. However, Rou appeared to be suffering from nothing worse than a terminal case of shyness.
Taking no notice of his granddaughter’s unveiling, Jun had already moved on to the next display. “As you look at these jade carvings, bear in mind that the raw material wasn’t sourced locally. The jade itself came from mines far beyond China’s borders.”
The group made the rounds of the rest of the exhibit, pausing here and there to study items of interest.
“What are these?” Cassie pointed to a curious set of jade objects. Each one appeared to form a capital letter “C.” The front of the C was shaped into a dragon’s head, but the snout was squared off. It didn’t look like any dragon the pythia had ever seen before.
“Those are pig-dragons,” Jun explained. “You can tell why they’re called that from the blunt shape of the nose. It’s interesting when you think about the creatures the Hongshan chose to carve most often: turtles, birds, pig-dragons. All of them are symbolically associated with yin.”
“As in the female principle of yin and yang?” Griffin asked.
“Yes, exactly. It’s a further indication that we are dealing with a female-centric culture. Of course, we also know the Hongshan were matristic because they were a highly complex society with no evidence of warfare or oppression of any kind.”
Cassie shook her head in disbelief. “Given how male-dominated Chinese society is today, nobody seems to realize there was an earlier stage of development that was a far cry from overlord.”
“The truth has been buried for a very long time,” Jun remarked sadly.
“Burning of books...”
The other three turned to look at Rou in surprise. They’d all but forgotten her presence. Her accent was thicker than her grandfather’s though still understandable. Apparently realizing for the first time that
