Ancient bronzes may be nation's oldest images of Buddha

What are thought to be China's oldest known bronze Buddha images have been found in Shaanxi province.

The two sculptures were unearthed this year in an Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) tomb in the city of Xianyang, the Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology announced on Thursday in Xi'an, the provincial capital.

Li Ming, the lead archaeologist at the site, said one of the relics, a standing statuette of the Gautama Buddha on a lotus-shaped foundation, is about 10 centimeters tall. The other piece, which is flat, is about 15 cm tall and depicts five sitting Buddhist deities.

"The discovery of the two relics is significant for studies of how Buddhism was introduced to China and got localized in our country," Li said.

Historical documents show Buddhism was first introduced to China in the first century AD. The oldest known Buddhist temple in China was built in AD 68 in Luoyang, Henan province, which was then capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Li said that previous archaeological findings in China indicated that stand-alone Buddha images with a religious purpose only appeared during the Sixteen Kingdoms (304-439) period.

Consequently, the new findings may add two more centuries to the history of Chinese Buddha images, he added.

The tomb where the two Buddha images were recently found is one of six in a family plot. Though the specific time when the two relics were made remains to be clarified, a pottery jar found nearby specifies the year AD 158 and another stylistically similar tomb in the complex appears contemporaneous to that.

"This could be a benchmark for dating this graveyard," Li said. "Its owner should be a family of local officials or landlords with considerable economic power."

In South China, Buddhist elements also appeared on relics during the Eastern Han Dynasty, but they were found to be used as decorations on architecture and other artifacts.

The newly found Buddha images feature typical styles of the Gandhara Culture of South Asia, but material analysis indicated that they were locally manufactured.

"They showed that Buddhism came to China from South Asia via the ancient Silk Road during the boom time of the cultural exchange route," said Liu Qingzhu, a senior archaeological researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Other burial objects were also unearthed in the graveyard, including bronze mirrors, pottery vases and sculptures of animals. They, too, are typical artifacts indicating the late part of the Eastern Han Dynasty period.

Xi'an, then known as Chang'an, was the capital of the Western Han (206 BC-AD 24) and Tang (618-907) dynasties, two peaks of culture and national strength in ancient China, and the city remained a major metropolis in ancient China.

Consequently, many nobles' and high officials' tombs were excavated in Xianyang, which was on the outskirts of ancient Chang'an.

As Li revealed on Thursday, from June 2020 to November, including the Eastern Han graveyard, over 3,600 tombs ranging from the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) were found in the city's Weicheng district.

"In the history of Chinese archaeology, we've never found another place where we could excavate so many graveyards spanning such a long period," Li said. "It's a perfect chance to study ancient burial customs."