Archive for the ‘Ancient Asia’ Category
By: The Scribe on December, 2010
Many people have looked at beautifully decorated silk shoes from China and wondered if they were for a child or a doll. They are surprised to find that these pairs of shoes, some of which are only a little over three inches in length were actually meant to be worn by grown women. But how could a woman get her feet that small? Extremely small feet were achieved through a process known as foot binding.
Foot binding was first practiced in about the 10th century. The process was a lengthy and dangerous one and many girls actually died from having their feet bound. The arch was often broken and the toes folded underneath and bound into place. This was started before a girl’s feet had time to fully form. The average age that girls began the process was anywhere from four to seven years of age. If a girl was lucky, the process would be performed during the winter. Cold weather could numb the feet and help to ease some of the pain. 
The process of binding the feet to make them as small as possible would take years to complete. They were unwrapped often and cared for. It was not uncommon for gangrene to set in and for the flesh to rot in some areas. Foot care took place daily in rich families but may have only taken place once or twice a week in families that were less financially well off.
The ideal length for a woman’s foot was three inches long. Women who had longer feet were often considered less desirable and may not have been able to marry as well as women with perfectly bound feet. A woman who had her feet bound could walk on them although it was difficult. In fact, women who were from a higher social class were often more likely to have their feet bound since it showed that the family was affluent enough to afford servants.
There have been many stories that explained the origin of foot binding. One legend states that Yao-niang, a consort of the ruler Li Yu had performed a dance on feet that had been wrapped in silk cloth. This type of foot wrapping was very similar to the toe shoes that ballet dancers wear today. It became desirable to have feet shaped like a crescent moon.
Although it was believed that all women in China had bound feet this was not always the case. Some ethnic groups only bound feet enough to narrow them and did not break the bones in any way. Manchu women did not have their feet bound at all after the year 1644 due to the fact that the Emperor had forbidden it.
Foot binding in some form was practiced for approximately 1000 years. Women who were born as late as the 21st century had their feet bound although the practice was outlawed in 1949. Some women who had bound feet did remove their wrappings but this also caused great pain and left the women disabled. There are still women who are living in China today who have the distinctive small feet that were once so prized for a thousand years.
By: The Scribe on December, 2010
Many ancient cultures had traditions of placing things in the grave of someone who died. This could be as simple as placing containers of food in with the deceased or as extreme as killing slaves and family members. Whether it was furniture, food or servants, the entire principal was to provide the deceased with tools and items that they could use when they reached the afterlife. These were often personal items although they may also have been heavily ornamented and, in the case of some ancient rulers, were often extremely valuable.
Funerary art and grave goods were also placed in graves as a way to honor the deceased and to celebrate the accomplishments that they achieved in life. This meant that some ancient leaders would have large quantities of grave goods and funerary art pieces placed in their tombs when they were being buried.
This practice of adding items to the grave was often done on a fairly small scale in terms of size even if there were large numbers of individual items. Miniatures of furnishings, homes and other items were lovingly crafted and placed in the graves or tombs. Some cultures placed many items in tombs especially if the person who died was extremely important or powerful.
Perhaps the most elaborate example of placing items in a tomb would have to be the Terracotta Warriors of China. Found in 1974, this collection of beautifully crafted figurines dates from 210 BCE and is made up of more than 8,000 individual pieces. These figurines were located near Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi province in China.
The figures are much larger than other funerary statues that are normally found in tombs. Instead of being miniature, they are life sized and, in some cases, are actually larger than life. The smallest figurines are approximately 6 feet tall but some measure up to 6.4 feet tall. They are very detailed and show a variety of different professions. In addition to the 8,000 soldiers figurines of acrobats, cavalry horses and horse and chariot combinations were also found. Each of the figures is unique. This uniqueness is due to a direct order from the Emperor who did not want the figures to be duplicated at all. It is because of this attention to detail that the collection took many years to complete.
The figurines were part of a larger necropolis, a city for the dead that was built to honor the Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. The creation of the mausoleum and the necropolis was a massive project that involved as many as 700,000 workers. The necropolis and the army were meant to serve two different purposes in the afterlife. The necropolis had been designed to act as a palace or imperial compound. 
There are several theories about the purpose of the army. The first is that the army had been designed to act as protection for the emperor in the afterlife. The second theory was that the army was provided for the use of the emperor so that he could continue to attack and conquer others even in the afterlife.
The terracotta warriors have become an international sensation and portions of the collection have been taken on a tour that has stopped in many countries around the world.
By: The Scribe on January, 2008
Twelve years passed without excavations at Zhoukoudian. Finally, in 1949, the political situation was stable enough for the work to continue, and work seasons were held in 1951, 1958-60, and again from 1978-80. A surprising number of additional fossils were found during these excavations:
1959: Almost full mandible belonging to an older female.
1966: Frontal and occipital skull fossils, allowing for a complete skullcap reconstruction. The skull fossils found here belonged to the same individual whose bones had been excavated in 1934-36.
Between the years of 1921 and 1966, the Peking Man fossils that were excavated brought the findings to a total of 6 almost full crania/skullcaps; 19 large skull fragments; many small skull fragments; 15 partial or incomplete mandibles; 157 isolated teeth; 3 humerous bone pieces; 1 clavicular; 1 lunate; and 1 tibia.
Studies on these fossil fragments then made several conclusions about this ancient man. Peking Man walked upright, like modern humans, and had a similar skeletal morphology – males were between five and six feet tall (about 5’11”), with the women just under five feet (about 4’73”). However, despite all the study done on the physical aspects of the people and examinations of cranial capacity… there is little that can be actually learned about Peking Man from fragments of bone. Instead, it’s the material remains that really makes a difference.
Fortunately, plenty of mammal fossils, ash piles, and other artifacts were found at the dig locations! Around 118 animal fossils were recovered, and reportedly about 100,000 other items were collected from the site – nothing was left behind, just in case it might provide some clue about Peking Man’s background.
The recovered stone tools from Zhoukoudian were made with various types of rock, which seems to suggest an aesthetic appreciation for different textures and densities – everything from vein quartz, to flint, to sandstone, to quartz crystals were used, alone with boulders and cobble to assist in tool creation. The tools were also made using different methods as time progressed!
Peking Man’s tool-making proficiency is often divided into three stages: in the early period, the artifacts were mostly middle to large, and typically made of quartz and sandstone. The flaking technique here is known as ‘block on block’ or ‘anvil technique’ – the large core rock is actually struck against a large, stationary rock (an “anvil”) to remove flakes of stone In the middle stage of tool industry, this manufacturing style was abandoned and a ‘bipolar technique’ was used, a modification of the first method. In this case, the core is placed on the anvil as support, and then struck with another object to function as a ‘hammer’, compressing the stone at both ends and causing the rock to shatter into hopefully usable pieces.
Unfortunately, both methods give very little control over the stone and the pieces that fly off it, creating rather dangerous and extremely sharp rock projectiles! Naturally, Peking Man wanted to find something better, and so the late stage of tool making was far more advanced. Tools became much smaller, were higher quality, and semi-translucent quartz was used for most of the objects. The technique used was called ‘direct percussion’: the core is held in one hand, and stuck with a hard hammer stone to remove the flakes, giving the flintknapper very close control of the object and the size of flakes that are removed.
But even more interesting? Peking Man had fire…
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Tomorrow: Part 3 of course!
By: The Scribe on January, 2008
The origins of Tae Kwon Do lie in the area of Asia known presently as Korea, during the Koguryo Dynasty which ruled between 37 BC and 668 AD. The martial art was developed out of an amalgamation of unarmed combat styles that were being practiced by three rival kingdoms at the time: Koguryo, Baekje, and Silla.
The earliest evidence for Tao Kwon Do is found in wall paintings on warriors’ tombs that date back to around 3 AD. These wall paintings show men engaged in battle with each other, in a type of fighting often referred to as ‘Subakki’. Although different from the kind of Tae Kwon Do practiced today, its origins were found in this ancient fighting style.
Since Koguryo was being threatened by rival kingdoms, a special corps of warriors was formed for its protection. These men were known as the ‘Sonbae’ – meaning “man who never recoils from a fight” – and are thought to have practiced another fighting style called ‘Taekkyon’ , which was a direct predecessor of Tae Kwon Do.
Eventually, the Sonbae’s Taekkyon fighting made its way to the Silla Kingdom, where its own version of the Sonbae – the Hwarang, or “Flower Knights” – took the new style and adapted it for their own use. It was around this time that the “five student commitments” were developed for students of Taekkyon, and which are still taken by Tae Kwon Do students today.
Meanwhile, the third rival kingdom of Baekje – a tribe which had actually split from the Koguryo kingdom years before – was developing their own special warrior corps, called the ‘Soo Sa’. They were employed to defend the kingdom, and learned a fighting style called SooByeokTa, which also built upon Taekkyon fighting and would become a Tae Kwon Do predecessor.
Eventually, the kingdom of Koguryo was able to rise up and conquer its two rivals, which unified Korea under one dynasty. The Koryo Dynasty ruled the area between 918 and 1392 AD, and all men who were a part of the military received martial arts training as part of their regimen. Specific rules and standards of evaluation were thus developed as Taekkyon techniques became standardized, thereby developing what has become known as the first ‘official’ form of Tae Kwon Do.
Since that time, Tae Kwon Do has continued to mature and develop as a martial art, however this is an important part of the art itself – after all, its origins lie in the amalgamation of three fighting styles, centuries ago.
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Tomorrow: Caesar censors
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