5,300-year-old Mongolian statue pieced back together

Archaeologists of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences have finished reconstituting a 5,300-year-old pottery statue from fragments unearthed in north China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, it was announced on Saturday.

The debris of the pottery statue was found at the Xinglonggou relics site in Aohan banner of Chifeng city in May.

Experts began to excavate the debris on June 30, and finished restoring the statue on Friday, said Liu Guoxiang, leader of the first archaeology team of Inner Mongolia.

The restored seated figure is 55-cm high with big bulging eyes, a high nose and vivid facial expression. It was pieced together from 65 fragments.

"The statue may be of a wizard or leader in the famous Hongshan Culture period [a Neolithic culture dating back 5,000-6,000 years]," added Liu.