compares these "bulging-eyed, big-eared, bronze heads and masks" with "eye-idols" (effigies with large eyes and open mouths designed to induce hallucinations) in Julian Jaynes's bicameral mentality hypothesis; and proposes, "[i]t is possible that southern Chinese personators wore these hypnotic bronze masks, recursively representing the spirit of a dead ancestor with a mask that represents a face disguised by a mask". Other bronze artifacts include birds with eagle-like bills, tigers, a large snake, zoomorphic masks, bells, and what appears to be a bronze spoked wheel but is more likely to be decoration from an ancient shield. Apart from bronze, Sanxingdui finds included jade artifacts consistent with earlier neolithic cultures in China, such as cong and zhang. Cosmology As far back as Neolithic times, East Asians identified the four quadrants of the sky with animals: Azure Dragon of the East, Vermillion Bird of the South, White Tiger of the West, and Black Tortoise of the North. Each of these Four Symbols (Chinese constellation) was associated with a constellation that was visible in the relevant season: the dragon in the spring, the bird in the summer, etc. Since these four animals—birds, dragons, snakes, and tigers—predominate the finds at Sanxingdui, the bronzes might represent the universe. It is unclear whether they formed part of ritual events designed to communicate with the spirits of the universe (or ancestral spirits). As no written records remain it is difficult to determine the intended uses of objects found. Some believe that the continued prevalence of depictions of these animals, especially in the later Han period, was an attempt by humans to "fit into" their understanding of their world, their cosmology. (The jades that were found at Sanxingdui also seem to correlate with the six known types of ritual jades of ancient China, again each might be associated with a compass point (N, S, E, W) plus the heavens and earth.) Images See also Erligang culture Erlitou culture History of China History of metallurgy in China Jinsha List of Bronze Age sites in China List of Neolithic cultures of China Tombs of boat-shaped coffins Wucheng culture Notes References Bagley, Robert, ed. 2001. Ancient Sichuan: Treasures from a Lost Civilization. Princeton, New Jersey: Seattle Art Museum and Princeton University Press. Carr, Michael. 2007. "The Shi 'Corpse/Personator' Ceremony in Early China," in Marcel Kujisten, ed., Reflections on the Dawn of Consciousness: Julian Jaynes's Bicameral Mind Theory Revisited, Julian Jaynes Society, 343–416.