Cultural Relic: Painted Clay Jar with a Pointed Botton

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

Maybe you are wondering what you could do with a jar head upside down. It seems that you couldn’t use it to hold water or any other things. Every question has its own answer.

Now let’s see what ancients Chinese people use it for.

This jar, 15.6 cm high,with a pointed bottom has a number of symbols painted on its sides.

It was unearthed from a tomb containing a headless corpse and occupied the place where the head of the tomb occupant should have been, presumably serving as a substitute for the head.

Wars were frequent in prehistory and headhunting was common. The occupant of this tomb, his head replaced by a jar, may have had his head cut off and taken away by a hostile clan.

The jar rested on a piece of fur spreading over a wooden board, showing that it was treated with due respect.