Cauldron [V-68]
Northern Hebei and western Liaoning, China
7th-6th century BC

Stem-footed cauldrons like this example are ritual vessels, not utilitarian cooking pots. They were used to contain mind-altering substances used in shamanism, the belief system of the steppe. Ancestors of the magic cauldrons of European legend, they are found throughout the region.

Curved fitting with jingles [V-7414]
North-western China
13th-10th century BC

Fittings like this have been excavated in northern China from tombs that frequently included carts or chariots. Thus some scholars have suggested that the fitting was a type of chariot gear. But deer stones, the tall, carved funereal monuments of the Asian steppes, show these objects suspended from belts with other tools and weapons in typical steppe fashion. These reliefs make no reference to horses, carts or chariots, and the function of this fitting remains a mystery.