via various sources, 18-19 February 2024: Archaeologists from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan have unearthed a 4,000-year-old snake-shaped artifact in Guanyin District, Taoyuan City, believed to have been part of a ritual pottery vessel. The discovery, made at a coastal sand dune site rich in prehistoric finds, suggests the artifact was used in ancient shamanic rituals, reflecting the deep-rooted symbolism of snakes in East Asian cultures as symbols of life, death, and transition.
The coastal site has yielded a number of archaeological finds dating back to Taiwan’s prehistory. These include a newly discovered, large-scale stone tool processing area, Hung-Lin Chiu, an associate professor with the Institute of Anthropology at Tsing Hua, told Newsweek. Many stone cores and flakes have been found in this area.
The snake artifact find was first announced on a Facebook page dedicated to sharing archaeology news from the university, with a post describing it as an “important” discovery in Taoyuan city.
The researchers employed radiocarbon-dating techniques to determine the age of the snake-shaped artifact, finding that it was around four millennia old.
Source: Archaeologists Find 4,000-Year-Old Snake Artifact Possibly Used in Rituals
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