Since parts of the Liangzhu site was discovered 80 years ago, more than 630 pictographs have been found on unearthed jade artifacts, pottery pieces and stoneware, including those with shapes similar to the English letters X and Y. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Following the discovery of an ancient city and its dams, considered to be the earliest hydraulic project found in China, archaeologists studying the Neolithic Liangzhu culture are now preparing to unveil hundreds of pictographs for the public in December, and asking even foreign experts to help decode them.

Liangzhu relics in Hangzhou, the capital of East China's Zhejiang province, is widely thought to be a strong evidence that the Chinese civilization is more than 5,000 years old. Remains of Liangzhu culture in the Yangtze River Delta region is thought to date back 5,300 years.

Since parts of the Liangzhu site was discovered 80 years ago, more than 630 pictographs have been found on unearthed jade artifacts, pottery pieces and stoneware, including those with shapes similar to the English letters X and Y, says Chen Shoutian, deputy director of the Liangzhu site management committee.

Since parts of the Liangzhu site was discovered 80 years ago, more than 630 pictographs have been found on unearthed jade artifacts, pottery pieces and stoneware, including those with shapes similar to the English letters X and Y. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"To some extend, decoding the pictographs is more important than the discovery of dams and the ancient city," Chen said at a forum last week in Hangzhou, adding that archaeologists needed to find out if those were the origin of words in China.

The forum was organized by Zhejiang Provincial Archaeological Research Institute and Liangzhu Museum.

Liangzhu culture is known for its abundant jade artifacts unearthed and a city that is regarded as the capital of an ancient kingdom. In March, unveiling of a hydraulic project comprising 11 dams dating back to 5,000 years offered more evidence of the existence of the ancient civilization. But weather those were words of the neolithic civilization is the question.

A book Pictography of Liangzhu Culture was released in September. It has 656 symbols and marks that appear on items unearthed during the period of that culture. Many photos in the book show several pictographs appearing on a single pottery piece. The book was compiled by Liangzhu Museum in Hangzhou.

Liangzhu relics in Hangzhou, the capital of East China’s Zhejiang province, is widely thought to be a strong evidence that the Chinese civilization is more than 5,000 years old. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Zhang Zhongpei, an archaeologist, had said at the book's launch that they weren't sure if the symbols and marks were "words" of that era. More research was necessary to decode them.

According to him, it provided materials for archaeologists in China to study primitive words ahead of inscriptions on bones of the Shang Dynasty (16th-11th BC). Although the pictographs are yet to be fully understood, a divine emblem that depicts a man with an animal's body is commonly thought by experts to be a symbol of religion.

Zhao Hui, an archaeology professor at Peking University, says the accurate image of the emblem on lots of jade artifacts unearthed from tombs of aristocrats was for religious use. The emblem was delicately carved on a 6.5kg jade artifact unearthed in a tomb, which is thought to belong to a king of the Liangzhu era.

Bookcover of Pictography of Liangzhu Culture. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"The divine emblem largely appears on artifacts in Liangzhu culture. We see it as a religious symbol of the ruler back then," Zhao says.

From the artifacts that were discovered in ordinary people's tombs, images of the divine emblem were found carved on pottery pieces or stoneware.

Zhao says the earliest concept of a state or kingdom existed in the Liangzhu era.

If a kingdom with sophisticated hydraulic project and a monotheistic religion existed thousands of years ago, then words might have been around as well, he says.