Tuesday, September 16, 2003

Astronomical Surface Decorations on Ceramics, Chinese part IX (The Plot Thickens) Duncan Craig was kind enough to respond to my post to sci.archaeology.moderated. In his post he says that the lack of star charts was because the information was considered so important it was considered a state secret (my paraphrase.) He goes on to mention a similar lack of artwork with Chinese ocean going vessels. Duncan Craig was nice enough to include some references for my research. I'll need to visit the library.  I did find a brief abstract of - David Pankenier's popularized work entitled "The Mandate of Heaven". While following up on Duncan Craig's references, I found an nice tidbit from Yi-Long Huang in a descriprion of the study group"Astrology, Gender, and Chinese Politics".  Phenomena of the sky were for the ruling class, and did not directly foretell the future of the common folk. These are good reasons why we (I) wouldn't find these sorts of decorations on ceramic items. 1:27:31 PM