Cultural Relic: Girls of All Dynasties Needs Bone Hairpins

Copyright: A Journey into China’s Antiquity– Chinese History in Cultural Relics, Blossom Press

At the first sight of the picture, what do you think is it? A knife? Actually, it is a hairpin.

A total of 499 hairpins were found in the tomb. Most were in a small wooden box, while the rest were scattered about, some in bunches, others lying flat or sideways. A large number of them have decayed seriously.

The hairpins can be divided into six types by head shape, kui-dragon, bird, round-lid, cube, chicken and double- eaved roof hairpins. The majority are bird hairpins, of which 334 were found.

They can be subdivided into two groups. One group is long and thin, decorated with a bird that has an open, long beak, round, bulging eyes, a saw-tooth crest, and short wings and tail. The other is 12.5 cm to 14 cm long and ornamented with a feather motif on the bird’s head or a curved-line pattern around it.

Cube hairpins are the second most numerous. Next are the round- lid and kui-dragon hairpins. The remaining two kinds are rare.