Liangzhu

Refers to a Neolithic Chinese culture and period active from ca. 3300 to 2250 BCE. The most notable Liangzhu artifacts consist of ritual jades; flat disks of varying sizes and segmented hollow columnar objects have been found in graves. The columnar jades feature angled corners worked with what are among the earliest representations of the human form in this part of the world. Later ritual manuals identify the objects as 'bi' (the flat disks) and 'cong' (the tubular objects) and explain their role in the worship of heaven and earth and as markers of hierarchical rank; although the jades were certainly bearers of meaning, the later texts may not be relevant to the Neolithic context.