Getting the earth to reveal our history

The various designs include deity portraits, a crescent-shaped piece with heads carved at either end and a plaque of two birds standing on an animal's head. A star piece is a phoenix-shaped jade, which was unearthed in 1955 and collected by the National Museum of China for its permanent display.

"It's small and very vividly sculpted," says Fang, the director.

Due to the limitations of stone tools used in that time, jade was often made by etching simple lines into the surface. But jadeware in Shijiahe was skillfully sculpted and many of them are very small, about 4 cm in length.