Archeologists have found a colored earthen pot with unusual snake-shaped ears that they have determined to be 4,500 years old.

The pot, found in Lintao County, Gansu Province, is in the Banshan style of the Majiayao Culture (ca. 3300 BC to 2050 BC). It is the first time a pot with ears in the shape of snakes has been found in China.

The 45-centimeter-tall pot, made of mud interlarded with sand, is being kept in the Majiayao Culture Research Institute of Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu. It has a small base, widening to as much as 48 centimeters at its waist and then narrowing again to form a wide mouth. The body is decorated with black, yellow and red spiral patterns.

The two snake-shaped ears wriggle from the rim to the widest point of the body, forming two looped handles at the end.

Wang Haidong, vice president of the Gansu Research Institute of Ancient Painted Pottery, said that the snake-shaped ears, which were both ornamental and functional, were a significant invention in their time.

(China.org.cn by Chen Lin, March 16, 2005)