BELTS WITH COWRIE SHELLS IN CHINA ACCORDING TO WRITTEN AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOURCES
Abstract
Belts embroidered with cowrie shells appeared in Southern Siberia as early as the late Scythian period. Scholarly literature has suggested that this tradition might have originated in China.The article analyses finds of cowrie shells in China, as well as references to belts in Chinese written sources, such as Mu Tianzi zhuan (Biography of King Mu, Son of Heaven), Huainanzi (Master(s) from Huainan), Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), and Zhan Guo Ce (Annals of the Warring States). It has been established that before the Han dynasty, cowrie shells were mainly used in breast decorations.The earliest finds of belts embroidered with shells appear in the Western Han period only at the beginning of the 2nd century BC: objects in tombs and images on terracotta burial figurines. The tradition of decorating belts with cowrie shells lasted no more than two centuries in China. A preliminary conclusion can be made that the fashion for belts with cowrie shells came to China along with the adoption of non-Han Chinese people hufu clothing and was widespread only among people of high rank.
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