Neolithic Period (8500 - 2000 BC)
The birth of a culture
The Neolithic cultures of China that so far have been unearthed by archaeologists, represents more than 20 different cultures widespread over todays China. The definition of Neolithic in China is undergoing changes. The discovery in 2012 of pottery about 20,000 years BC indicates that this measure alone can no longer be used to define the period. When cereal domestication really started is still an open question. There were many neolittic cultures located at the same time in different parts of China.
Many thousands of years ago, our earliest ancestors were nomadic tribes that survived by foraging the wild for food and shelter. During the Neolithic era, human groups first began to settle down permanently, establishing villages and communities. However, without new technological innovations, this sedentary culture would not have been possible. Foremost among these discoveries were agriculture and tool-making, both of which enabled humans to transform their natural environment into a sustainable society. Many thousands of years ago, the area presently covered by modern China was made up of distinct regions each with their own unique cultural identity. Archaeologists have been able to discern some of these cultures from each other based upon the burial styles, architecture, and pottery, perhaps the most immediate remnant of this age.
When Neolithic mankind began to settle in areas further removed from sources of water, transportation of this vital fluid became a foremost necessity. After unsuccessful attempts to create water resistant vessel from wicker baskets caked in mud, pottery was invented. The creation of pottery in China dates back as early as 6000 B. C. when villagers first realized that the earth around fires became hard and impervious to liquid. From this realization came the birth of pottery, fulfilling the practical necessity of water transportation and allowing civilization to expand. While pottery was created to answer a need, it soon progressed to be more than functional: it was also beautiful. While Neolithic vessels would have been used to carry water or to store grains, they are also spectacular artistic creations. The forms of the vessels, built up from coiled clay, are elegant and refined.
One of the very first settled cultures known today was the Yangshao-culture (5000-3000 BC). The Yongshao people buildt homes, farmed and hunted. They also kept domesticated animals like pigs, goats, dogs and cattle. They are also known to be the first to harvest silk from the silkworm, initiating a tradition the Chinese are still famous for today. They also used the clay-rich soil from the Yellow River valley to make the first pottery, burnt in fire-pits at around 600-800 C. These were often decorated with geometric images, fishlike objekts, snake pattern and stylized masks etc.
Furthermore, the geometric paintings that decorate Neolithic vessels represent some of the earliest evidence of the origins and evolution of calligraphic writing in China. While these designs are purely abstract and in no way constitute a written language, the patterns, motifs, and application of paint all serve to give us insight into the intellectual and aesthetic atmosphere that would eventually foster the creation of Chinese symbols. Only stonetools were made to work the land, no iron has been found.
After the Yangshao-culture came the Majiayao-culture (3300-2000 BC) which was situated in the upper Yellow River region in western China. This culture consisted of three different periods, Majiayao, Banshan and Machang. The second of these was named after a site in the northern Honan province called Banshan. Banshan-culture (2500-2300) is best known for its characteristic shaped and painted pottery first found in a grave in 1923. They consist mostly of unglazed reddishbrown pottery urns, painted with black iron oxide and burgundy-coloured magnesium pigments shaping geometric patterns or stylished figured of people, fish or birds. A large round body tapering toward the small base, flanked by two ear handles midway down the jar, and a tall cylindrical neck with a rim.
The ware were probably shaped on a slow handturned weel and painted with brush. A few examples are shown on the following pages.
Liangzhu (3300-2000 BC) was another and probably the most important late neolittic culture located more south part of China in a small city along the Yangtze River. Archeologist have found evidence of a city wall with rectangular roads inside, large buildings, workshops, altars and tooms. This culture is famous for its elite burial rituals, using jade for symbolic reasons around the body seemingly to protect the decease of the body. Circular, disc like bi with a circular hole and tubular hollow Cong, are the most important types of Liangzhu jade.
This collection has several objects from this neolittic period shown bellow.
