EASTERN EURASIAN STEPPES, 2ND-1ST CENTURY BC

Similar plaques have been found at a wide range of sites associated with the Xiongnu all over the eastern Eurasian steppes, reflecting the expansion of the Xiongnu empire, including in northwest China at Daodunzi, Tongxin Xian, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, where they were found with Han dynasty wuzhu coins which were not minted before 118 BC. A similar gilt-bronze plaque is illustrated in Chugoku Sengoku jidai no bijuitsu (The Art of the Warring States Period) Osaka Municipal Museum of Fine Art, 1991, p. 149, no. 248.