This thread might belong in Mythology, but it sort of straddles between that and Archaeology.

Since it was inspired as I was looking for some info regarding the Craig’s avatar thread:
kaiselin please come in to identify Craig's avatar
http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php...c=21858&hl=

I noticed this funerary banner from the tomb of Lady Dai.
I had saved it because of the representation of the two snakes but never really noticed the details of the banner
If you look in the center where the two snakes cross they are inter woven in what looks like a jade Bi.. I know that the Bi’s are thought to have been used in ritual, but I don’t think I have ever seen any theory on how they were used except one that it was some sort of ritual knife.



I know that heaven is represented by the circle, and wonder since this is a funerary banner if there is a clue to the purpose of the Bi.

I then noticed that the bi was also in this picture.

It is not really clear, but a Bi is in between a dragon and a tiger and it looks like a squatting man holing the Bi up like Atlas or a man whose head is the Bi I can not tell you where this picture came from, I did not notate that when I saved it.

Kaiselin, you may find some answers (but probably not as many as you need) here: http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php...bi,+jade,+music

Hi Kaiselin,
Being prehistoric in origin the objects are only understood by deduction and speculation. The link Yun gave had the main points that could be made, but even by the Zhou period it should be remembered the the orginal signifigance was likely already lost. The time that seperates the original bi cultures from the Han period is even greater than that which seperates the Han period from our own age.
The suggestion has been made the bi are a gateway, through which a shaman could speak and more sensibly still that between the cong tube, bi disc and huang crescent represent the 4 corners of the earth and a circular heaven cong, the path of the sun through the sky bi, and the rainbow huang.
The celestial symobology is one I consider likely. Also a specific object of communication during ritual is possible. Music, a distant last place although some other types (square plaques) have been considered chimes amongst other interpretations.
Since these are pre-historic it is not known, just as the pig-dragon of Hong Shan or the origins of the Shang Taotie are obscure.
Later is seems the form itself was admired and was a symbol of majesty (hence the tales of jades sought by rulers in the East Zhou).
This is both from a continuity of culture and a reverence for the past held by ancient dynasties, and jade was much admired, but by these times the original ritual signifigance of the bi itself would be unknown. By the time of the Han period when Lady Dai silk painting is dated from, much of the ritual of even Shang-Zhou times had been abandoned. Even the notion of the afterlife was altering during the Han as people began to percieve a heavenly beyond. The bi is a motif and powerful symbol, but just as bronze ritual vessels were abandoned in the Han the neolithic rituals would be even less relevent or understood. The actual spirits and gods held sacred in the stone age are not known by name. Trying to peer into the minds of neolithic peoples and their beliefs is a rather inconclusive activity, i.e stonehenge for one example.
They remain an enigma & this works well to illustrate just what a huge expanse of time and culture seperates modern people and ancient cultures.

PS; Bi are definitely not knives. They don't have sharp edges for one part, since are typically a dressed slice.
There are jade knives which are based on more ordinary harvesting knives. These are square edge plaque looking objects, and the use of them is equally open to half a dozen different explanations.