As for the dragon's cultural relics, the earliest dragon found now is the dragon-shaped sculpture unearthed from the Neolithic site, and the cultural relics with dragon images were also unearthed in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Dragons have been circulating in China for more than 8,000 years, which is longer than any nation or country in the world. At that time, the earliest writing had not yet formed, and people could only record things with pictures or sculptures.
In other words, from the beginning, there was only a simple image of the dragon, and there was no text to introduce and explain the origin, significance and divine power of the dragon. Although the unearthed Oracle Bone Inscriptions has dragon characters and pictures, there is no explanation about its origin. The only thing that can make people remember the "dragon", an animal that has been handed down from ancient times but has never been seen before, is of special significance to this nation, so the origin of the dragon has been passed down from generation to generation, although it has been slowly lost.
When dragons appeared, there was no written record. Many introductions about dragons were invented by later generations. The earliest written record about dragons is Zhouyi, but there is no real dragon in it. It is a profound metaphor and symbol of Hyunri in Zhouyi.
There is a dragon in Shan Hai Jing. Although it is not written on the front, it has been concluded that it is a kind of dragon. When introducing a monster, it will be directly compared with the dragon, such as "the head of the que, from the mountain to the end of the mountain, where there are ten mountains, 2,950 miles, and its gods are birds and dragons."
Apart from the intuitive image of the dragon in Oracle bone inscriptions, we have not seen any information about the dragon, but we can also see that the image of the dragon existed a long time ago and was not inferred or imagined by future generations.
Should we think so, because dragons exist, and the image of dragons has existed for a long time, which was determined long ago, but later people changed some parts according to different times and aesthetic differences, but the composition of each part of the standard dragon body has not changed. A dragon made of clam shells was found at Xishuipo site in Puyang, with its head held high and its back bowed.
The image of this dragon is almost the same as it is now, with a big head, a wide mouth and a long body. The site is about 6000 years ago, and the Jade Dragon in Neolithic Age is also long and angular, probably because this jade is a handicraft and has a body for convenience.
Let's talk about totems again. Totem is primitive superstition that an animal or natural thing is related to the clan. Totems are mostly visible and existing species in nature, mostly animals, which are generally common in clan living environment and have enviable power or some special abilities.
If the dragon is a fictional species composed of several animals, think carefully about those animals. Compared with many fierce beasts of the same period, they must belong to the weak. In primitive society, no one should think that a few weak people can be combined into a powerful person. In the primitive society with low cognitive ability.
People will feel novel and mysterious when they see the physiological characteristics of existing animals and plants, and it is impossible to invent non-existent animals. Among the ancient stone statues or patterns that have been discovered, some animal images are indeed exaggerated and weird, but they can always find their owners. If the dragon, an animal that doesn't even have its owner, is regarded as a totem, it is impossible to get the recognition of all clan people!
Judging from the various dragon-shaped artifacts found in the Neolithic Age, the geographical span is quite large. The dragon-shaped pottery pieces unearthed from the Chahai site in Fuxin, Liaoning Province, which are about 8000 years ago, have the basic characteristics of dragons not only in image but also in scale. There is also a stone carving dragon in Xinglongwa Culture, which is composed of reddish-brown conglomerate of equal size, with a total length of19.7m.. The faucet is held high, mouth open and back bent.
This dragon shape also includes the above-mentioned clam shell plastic dragon located in Xishuipo site in Henan Province, and two oppositely placed pig head bones found in Xinglongwa site in Qi Xing, Aohan, Inner Mongolia. The pig dragon image of the body is displayed with pottery pieces and residual stone tools. It can be found that these places where dragons were excavated were completely far apart, and the range of activities of primitive people could not be so large. If you have never seen a dragon, can the image of the dragon spread so widely?
As you can imagine, dragons should exist, just don't know why. The dragon disappeared, leaving only an image. In an era without written records, the origin and destination of the dragon have not been handed down, so now there is only the legend of the dragon!