Geochemical evidence reveals a long-distance trade of white pottery in Neolithic China 5,000 years ago

Abstract

The significance of handicraft production and commodity trade in the process of social complexity and urbanization in late Neolithic China has not been fully recognized. In the present paper, the firstly utilization of multi-geochemical methods as possible tracers for the origins of pottery have been explored on Dawenkou (大汶口) Culture white pottery from Jiaojia (焦家) and Jinzhai (金寨) sites during the Neolithic 5,000 years ago. The results show that kaolinitic clay is the raw material of the Dawenkou Culture white pottery. The total amount of silicon and aluminum ranges between 88.12% and 94.69%, and the firing temperature ranges from 850 to 1000° C. Trace elements, rare earth elements, strontium (Sr) isotopes and lead (Pb) isotopes indicate that the Jiaojia white pottery were produced locally and the raw material used in the production was kaolinitic clay from nearby. However, the Jinzhai white pottery was of multiple origins, and the raw material was non-local kaolinitic clay. One of Jinzhai white pottery cup exactly falls into the element composition and isotope ratio range defined by the Jiaojia white pottery, about 300 km away from Jinzhai. Our results suggest that white pottery had already been circulating across regions 5,000 years ago, forming a trade network among regional economic centers during the Dawenkou period.