These people marked their sacred landscapes with stones that still stand in our world after they themselves migrated to the next, guided by magical deer that carried them across the final threshold.
All that glitters
The veins of gold that pulse through Altay's mountains also thread its history.
They circulate through millennia, tying together cultures and binding together the pages of a story whose plot flows from the arteries of its alps.
The heart of this gilded legacy is the Dongtalede Cemetery in Habahe county, where around 800 foil items from the 9th century BC to the 7th century BC were the most abundant among artifacts unearthed.
These perforated discs weren't designed to decorate the deceased during their eternal slumber but rather to dance upon the living. Scholars believe they were sewn onto shirt shoulders and hems to flutter with the movements of the people who wore them, like sparks of the sun whose light they captured and threw back.
The craftsmanship suggests artisans who understood both the material properties of gold and the emotional spectacle of ornamentation in motion.
These works befit a nomadic culture in which people literally wore their status on their sleeves, and adornments kept pace with the rhythms of horse hooves.
These gold discs generally resemble the traditions of surrounding peoples yet differ in detail.
They represent both a connection to the wider world and the distinction of their particular place in it.
At Altay Museum, its glint still speaks the language of the land that still yields it. If we listen, it will teach us how to read its meaning.
Contact the writer at erik_nilsson@chinadaily.com.cn
