Archaeologists working at the open-air Lingjing site, a site in central China's Henan Province, unearthed a tiny 13,500-year-old bird sculpture crafted from burned bone. The miniature bird sculpture it is considered the earliest three-dimensional object of art found in East Asia.
     Measuring only 19.2 mm long, 5.1 mm wide and 12.5 mm high, the sculpture is dark brown on one side and bronze on the other and displays six different carving techniques. Made of a mammalian limb bone, which had been heated and charred before carving, the bird carving has a stout body shape, short head, round beak and long tail. Instead of carving the bird's legs, the unknown ancient artist cut a base for the sculpture to stand on.
     Placed on a flat surface, it can stand and be rotated steadily, indicating that ancient people at that time have mastered the principles of gravity and balance, according to Li Zhanyang, lead of the archaeological team of Xuchangren ruins in the Lingjing site.
     "We were surprised by how the artist chose the right technique to carve each part and the way in which he or she combined them to achieve their desired goal," said archaeologist Francesco d'Errico of the University of Bordeaux.
     An international team of archaeologists from China, Canada, France, Israel and Norway published their study on the sculpture in June, suggesting it is the oldest known work of Chinese sculpture art. The discovery pushes back the origin of sculpture in East Asia by more than 8,500 years and bird sculptures found in China by 8,000 years.

Edited from CGTN (7 December 2020)