Neolithic China Research Articles

Emergence of fibrecraft specialization 8000 years ago in early Neolithic North China

Fiber technology, crucial to human societies for millennia, encompasses cordage and textiles. The development of fiber crops and the production of fiber-based clothing are significant components of the Neolithic Revolution. Despite China being an independent center for agriculture, the role of fiber technology in this context remains largely unexplored. In this project, we employed a comprehensive approach that combines microfossil analysis and use-wear examinations to study tools from the Peiligang site in North China. This site uniquely spans the Upper Paleolithic and early Neolithic periods, offering an ideal setting for investigating the evolution of fiber production. Our results reveal that some Paleolithic blades and scrapers were associated with fiber production, which coincided with ostrich eggshell beads and hematite during the cold and dry Last Glacial Maximum period. Responding to climatic fluctuations, fiber production played a significant role in subsistence and ritual activities. In the early Neolithic, advanced fiber production is evident. Two adjacent burials yield tools and microfossil remains representing a toolkit for fiber and possible textile production, including harvesting, retting, pounding, scraping, and sewing. Fibers recovered from human bones provide potential evidence of textile production and use. Dyeing with blue, black, and red colorants was common for textiles, cordages, and strings. These grave goods suggest the involvement of the deceased in craft production with bast fibers, possibly embodying the earliest specialization in fiber craft 8000 years ago in Neolithic China.

On Liangzhu Culture Tremolite-Tempered Pottery: Social complexity, logistical networks and cross-craft interaction in Neolithic China

This investigation delves into the utilization of tremolite, a rare mineral, as a pottery temper for cooking vessels of the late Neolithic lower Yangtze Liangzhu culture. Raman spectroscopy analysis of 165 mineral-tempered pottery sherds from the Dazemiao site revealed that tremolite was the predominant tempering material for tripods (ding), whereas a mixture of feldspar and quartz was used for open-topped vats (da-kou-gang). SEM images indicate that the tremolite temper exhibits relatively coarse fiber structure, corresponding to one of the nephrite materials used for the Liangzhu jade. It is suggested that the Liangzhu miners reallocated materials according to nephrite quality, formulating different product lines, including different types of jade objects and pottery temper. Additionally, the utilization of tremolite temper persisted throughout the entire Liangzhu culture. The presence of tremolite-tempered pottery in regions without indigenous tremolite mines necessitated robust logistical networks for the transportation of these bulky materials. The tremolite temper not only reconfirms the strong ‘jade culture’ of Liangzhu, but also provides evidence of extensive socio-economic exchanges between different geographical regions on the Yangtze River delta.

The earliest stamped hard pottery and high-firing technology dating back to 5000 BP: Evidence from two sites in southeastern China

This study focuses on the technological origin of stamped hard pottery, one of the precursors to Chinese porcelain, developed in the Late Neolithic period of China. 160 ceramic sherds of stamped hard wares from the Nanshan site (5300–4300 cal. BP) and Yanzaidong site (5000–4300 cal. BP) were investigated through water absorption, Vickers hardness, petrography, ED-XRF, thermodilatometry, XRD, and SEM-EDS. The results indicate that two categories of samples exhibit commendable physical properties, comparable to stoneware, attributed to specific high-alumina clay with low fluxing elements (porcelain stone), fired at high temperatures ranging from 1100 to 1250 °C. The other categories of samples appear to be defective products during firing process, or have another raw material source, contributing to a diversity of pottery at the two sites. Nanshan and Yanzaidong unequivocally emerge as the earliest known production of stamped hard pottery, dating back to 5000 cal. BP, marking a revolutionary advancement in high-firing technology during the Late Neolithic China.

Variation of millet grain size and cooking techniques across Asia between the late fourth and first millennia BC

Broomcorn millet and foxtail millet were first cultivated in Neolithic China then the process spread west across Asia during the Bronze Age. But the distinctive ceramic, and later bronze, vessels utilised in East Asian cuisines for boiling and steaming grains did not move west alongside these crops. Here, the authors use measurements of 3876 charred millet grains to evaluate regional variations and implications for food preparation. In contrast to wheat grains, which became smaller as their cultivation moved east, millet grains became larger as they spread from northern China into Inner Asia and Tibet. This indicates the decoupling of millets from associated cooking techniques as they reached geographical and cultural areas.

Reconstructing Late Neolithic animal management practices at Kangjia, North China, using microfossil analysis of dental calculus

Examination of plant microfossils (phytoliths and starch granules) preserved in dental calculus allows for the direct identification of some components of prehistoric diets. In this article, the authors present the results of microfossil analysis of dental calculus from wild and domestic animals at the Late Neolithic site of Kangjia in the Central Plains, an area critical in the emergence of early Chinese states. Consumption of cooked plant foods by domestic pigs and dogs, and of domestic crops by wild animals, at this site hints, the authors argue, at an interdependent relationship between animal management, agricultural production and ritual practices that contributed to the political transformations of Late Neolithic China.

Did crops expand in tandem with culinary practices from their region of origin? Evidence from ancient DNA and material culture

Grain-cooking traditions in Neolithic China have been characterised as a ‘wet’ cuisine based on the boiling and steaming of sticky varieties of cereal. One of these, broomcorn millet, was one of the earliest Chinese crops to move westward into Central Asia and beyond, into regions where grains were typically prepared by grinding and baking. Here, the authors present the genotypes and reconstructed phenotypes of 13 desiccated broomcorn millet samples from Xinjiang (1700 BC–AD 700). The absence in this area of sticky-starch millet and vessels for boiling and steaming suggests that, as they moved west, East Asian cereal crops were decoupled from traditional cooking practices and were incorporated into local cuisines.

Shell-tempered pottery: Opportunism OR/AND technical choice? On the use of a common resource by Northeast China hunter-gatherers

This article investigates the origins, contexts, and extent of use shell-tempered pottery in Neolithic Northeastern China. Using available site inventories, thin-section petrography, spatial mapping, and extensive environmental and subsistence data, this research demonstrates that far from being a uniform phenomenon, shell temper’s use varied according to a variety of social and environmental factors. Shell temper’s use in environments where shell was abundantly available, and shellfish were an important component of the diet, show that ancient hunter-gatherers were making efficient use of their locally available resources. Thin-sectioning demonstrates unique recipes for manufacturing shell-tempered vessels that also vary through space and time, strongly suggesting local, household-level production of pottery vessels. Especially given the absence of many other common tempering materials in this region, shell-tempered pottery had a particular advantage in terms of functional performance. Multiple types of data are employed to create a multidimensional picture of the use of shell-tempering in Neolithic China, shedding light on the close relationships inherent in human-environmental-technological interactions.

Microdestructive analysis with Py-GC/MS for the identification of birch tar: a case study from the Huayang site in late Neolithic China

Microdestructive analysis with Py-GC/MS for the identification of birch tar: a case study from the Huayang site in late Neolithic China

Food, cooking and potteries in the Neolithic Mijiaya site, Guanzhong area, North China, revealed by multidisciplinary approach

Investigating the coevolutions in human food resources, cooking technologies and pottery functions will provide a vital perspective for understanding the driving force of social development in Neolithic China. Here, we preliminarily present a multianalytical study on the plant microfossils of pottery residues, the stable isotopic compositions and radiocarbon dating of animal bones, and the characteristics of pottery vessels (including their types, textures and smoked traces) from the Mijiaya site. The results indicate that the Mijiaya people (ca. 3093‒1961 cal. BC) probably relied on the various food resources consisting of the diversified crops, livestock and some foraging food; Mijiaya people had refined the pottery functions by changing their types, textures and assemblages, and they also used some auxiliary tools for increasing the cooking efficiency and obtaining the complex foodstuff. Integrated with agricultural development and technological innovation during Neolithic China, the foodways at the Mijiaya site also shed light on its inherited social tradition and social organization in the Late Neolithic period.

Shijiahe and its Implications for Understanding the Development of Urbanism in Late Neolithic China

The late Neolithic site of Shijiahe in the middle Yangtze River Valley of China is important for understanding variation in the development of urbanism in China. Here, a core sector developed that was centred on the walled Shijiahe locus, c. 180 ha in size, and surrounded by a moat. Our paper is the first English publication synthesizing decades of scholarship about Shijiahe and explaining its significance for the development of urbanism. The available data reveal characteristics of urbanism not known elsewhere in China. We discuss possible ritual and economic strategies for increasing socio-political integration among the dispersed clusters of settlement. We also discuss evidence for methods of transportation and communication between different settlement loci.

Quantifying Patterns in Mortuary Practices: An Application of Factor Analysis and Cluster Analysis to Data From the Taosi Site, China

Abstract In Chinese mortuary research, too much reliance on traditional qualitative typological analysis renders quantitative attributes of mortuary practice data ignored. Examining the Taosi cemetery one of the famous cemeteries of Neolithic China (2300–1900 BC), this study discusses the advantages and disadvantages of typology and digital methods. Extant qualitative research has classified the Taosi burials into six vertical categories, representing a pyramidal social hierarchy. However, this approach solely relied on the labor expenditure principle, whose outcome was highly subjective and difficult to verify. This study applies a multivariant analysis. Factor analysis is used to investigate the correlations within the mortuary data. The statistical factor scores quantify the differences between the combination of burial objects in different tombs and allow clarification by cluster analysis to investigate their different social meanings. The results reveal two-axial divisions in the Taosi cemetery: vertical stratification based on hierarchy and horizontal differentiation based on social categories/identities. Compared with the simplistic typological description, such a quantitative method reveals the characteristics of each category more clearly, clarifies the classification criteria, and extracts more detailed information about the society and its mortuary practices.

Surface treatment of red painted and slipped wares in the middle Yangtze River valley of Late Neolithic China: multi-analytical case analysis

Red slipped and painted wares (RSW and RPW) were manufactured to cook, serve, or store foods and liquids in the middle Yangtze River valley (MYRV) of China some 8500 and 7800 years ago, respectively. Their primary use narrowed down to serving and drinking in the Upper Qujialing (5300–4500 cal BP) and Shijiahe (4500–4200 cal BP) periods when initial states (bang guo) took shape and developed in the region. The increasing social complexity in MYRV correlated with the formation of community and neighborhood identity through rituals and socio-economic ties involving the widespread use of RSW and RPW. How the two wares were produced and used helps us understand the relationships among productive activities, identity, and social inequality in MYRV. This paper presents the first overview of RSW and RPW in the Neolithic MRYV. It introduces a multi-analytical study of the two wares—mostly dating to the Shijiahe period—unearthed from the site of Fenghuangzui in Xianyang City of Hubei Province, China. Optical microscopic examination revealed that the paint of RPW—50 μm thick on average—was applied using a brush while the slip of RSW is thinner and finer and possibly formed by self-slipping. Handheld X-ray fluorescence (hhXRF) and benchtop micro-XRF analyses ascribed the red paint or slip to iron and iron oxide. Raman and X-ray absorption fine structure analyses confirmed that iron was present in the paint or slip in the form of hematite with a poorly developed crystalline structure. Furthermore, thin-section petrography implied that different pastes were used to produce RPW and RSW, and hhXRF data indicated that the Upper Qujialing and Shijiahe pottery differ in the concentrations of five elements (Zr, Fe, Mn, Ti, and Ba), which might be helpful in future provenance studies of RSW and RPW. Our study discloses the complexity of the manufacture of RSW and RPW at Fenghuangzui. More details of RSW and RPW production and use from our ongoing project shall reveal the role of the two wares in the social dynamics of the Late Neolithic MYRV.Graphic

Pig management in the Neolithic Near East and East Asia clarified with isotope analyses of bulk collagen and amino acids

The chemical analysis of animal bones from ancient sites has become a common approach in archeological research investigating animal utilization and domestication by past humans. Although several chemical indicators have been used to determine pig management practices in ancient societies, one indicator that can clarify human-animal relationships in the early stages of domestication is the change in the animal’s diet from its wild diet, which can be detected using isotope analysis of its bones. Omnivores, such as boars, are assumed to have shared foods with humans as their interaction increased, and a shift in the isotopic (carbon and nitrogen) compositions of their bone collagen toward humans are considered evidence of domestication. This approach has found evidence of early-stage pig management with human leftovers and feces in prehistoric East Asia, including in Neolithic China, Korea and Japan. However, in the Near East, one of the origins of animal domestication, even individual animals considered to be domesticated pigs according to zooarcheological data (such as morphological characteristics and mortality patterns) display isotopic compositions of bulk collagen that differ from those of humans but are close to those of herbivores. This result indicates that these pigs were fed special foods, such as legumes, rather than human leftovers or feces. However, the carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions of the bulk collagen of herbivores found at the same sites showed huge variations, so the interpretation of the pigs’ diet is consequently unclear. In this study, a compound-specific nitrogen isotope analysis was used to clarify the pig diet and management strategies unique to the Neolithic Near East, Turkey and Syria, together with a carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of bulk collagen. This study examines the diversity of pig management techniques in early agricultural societies and their relationship with the availability of other domestic animals and farming practices.

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

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.

Determining the earliest directly dated cremation tombs in Neolithic China via multidisciplinary approaches: A case study at Laohudun site

AbstractThe practice of cremation has been commonly documented in Chinese archaeological reports, although related scientific evidence and specific analysis are uncommon. In this study, 10 possibly burned human bone fragments recovered from the Laohudun archaeological site in Jing'an County, Jiangxi Province, were examined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to provide solid evidence for determining the nature of the ancient bones, with one modern unheated pig bone as a control sample. The level of heating was estimated using calculated indicators of SF, C/P, index of (961 + 1022 + 1061), and SEM morphological alterations. Nine of the Neolithic bone samples had experienced high temperatures, whereas the Han Dynasty sample is unheated. One of the burned bones was directly dated to 4800–4400 BP via radiocarbon AMS. The thermal history of the bone remains at Laohudun is clarified in this study, supporting the interpretation the Neolithic tombs are cremated. This study not only chronicles the use of cremation tombs in China back to the Neolithic period but also establishes a scientific foundation for future research into related funeral customs.

The quest for red rice beer: transregional interactions and development of competitive feasting in Neolithic China

The quest for red rice beer: transregional interactions and development of competitive feasting in Neolithic China

Starch grain analysis of two different types of grinding stones from the Neolithic Shuangdun site (ca. 7.3–6.8 ka BP) in eastern China

AbstractTwo different types of grinding stones, grinding slabs and rollers, as well as mortars and pestles from the Shuangdun site (ca. 7.3–6.8 ka BP) in the middle Huai River region, were subjected to starch grain analysis to investigate the evolution of plant food processing tools during the transition period from a gathering–fishing–hunting economy to farming. The results suggest that both types of grinding stones were used to process various plant species, including Triticeae, Job's tears (Coix lacryma‐jobi), lotus root (Nelumbo nucifera), and bean (Vigna spp.). However, starch grains of rice (Oryza sativa) were only discovered from mortar and pestle tools, indicating that mortars and pestles might have become a fixed combination tool for rice processing. Damage characteristics analysis for different kinds of starches indicated that mortars and pestles were also used for grinding plant foods besides dehusking rice, whereas some roughly made slabs no longer had a grinding function and were used only for pounding some specific plant foods. The functional degeneration of grinding slabs coincides with the rise of farming in Neolithic China around 7,000 BP. This study provides new evidence for understanding the evolution of prehistoric human plant food processing tools in Neolithic Eastern China.

Scanning electron microscopy for differentiating charred endocarps of Rhus/Toxicodendron species and tracking the use of the lacquer tree and Asian poison ivy in Japanese prehistory

The use of natural lacquer for preservation and decoration of various commodities is a remarkable invention. In Japan lacquer production dates back to the Neolithic Jomon period and has been mainly based on the sap extracted from the lacquer tree (Toxicodendron vernicifluum (Stokes) F.A. Barkley). However, it is still unclear, if lacquer production evolved in Japan independently or was introduced from Neolithic China, another centre of early lacquer production. A debate also revolves around the origin of the lacquer tree itself and whether it occurs in Japan naturally or was introduced from the continent along with the skills required for lacquer production. Records of Rhus/Toxicodendron fruit remains, recovered from cultural layers of archaeological sites and natural palaeoenvironmental archives across Japan, provide an opportunity to answer the existing questions. This paper presents a method for differentiating charred endocarps of the six Rhus/Toxicodendron species growing in Japan, which is not feasible based on size or morphological properties of whole fruits or endocarps. To develop this method, we used a set of modern reference fruits. Identification is based on the species-specific tissue structure of the charred endocarp in longitudinal sectional view observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). We suggest a simple identification key that is based on two prominent traits of the endocarp’s tissue structure, i.e., tissue alignment and density. The method was successfully applied to an abundant record of charred Rhus/Toxicodendron endocarps recovered by flotation from Okhotsk culture layers dating to ca. 490–880 CE at the multi-component Hamanaka 2 archaeological site, Rebun Island, Hokkaido region, northern Japan. The recovered endocarps belong to Asian poison ivy (Toxicodendron orientale Greene, 1905) and the chronology of the archaeobotanical assemblages suggests that fruits and/or other parts of this plant were used by different local populations over a period of up to 3000 years (Final Jomon to Classic Ainu period). This indicates that not only lacquer tree was an important economic plant in Japanese prehistory, but also other Rhus/Toxicodendron species were used for unknown purpose. While use of T. orientale for medical effects or as an alternative source for lacquer production seems possible, we hypothesise that at Hamanaka 2 it was utilised for its high tannin content to tan hides and furs of sea mammals. This interpretation emphasises the discussed function of Hamanaka 2, famous for its rich zooarchaeological record of sea mammal remains, as an important site of marine hunting and raw material processing.

Pottery production at the Miaodigou site in central China: Archaeological and archaeometric evidence

The Miaodigou culture in central China had far-reaching influence across much of the Late Neolithic China, leading to the formation of some would call ‘Early China’. Its exquisitely painted pottery with highly stylized patterns is especially well-known to East Asian archaeologists. The Miaodigou culture is represented by archaeological remains of Phase I (3800–3300 BCE) of the Miaodigou site in present-day Sanmenxia City of Henan Province. While a high level of specialization in pottery production has long been assumed for the Miaodigou site (and the culture as well), it has not been systematically demonstrated and discussed. The present study focuses on the Phase I utilitarian pottery—most of which are plain but some are painted—recently unearthed from the Miaodigou site. By combining archaeological and archaeometric evidence, including chemical compositional analysis (hhXRF) and mineral identification (XRD), we, for the first time, discuss pottery production at the very center of the Miaodigou culture. We reveal an overall compositional uniformity in the Miaodigou utilitarian pottery that largely exists across different pastes, colors, vessel forms, form-deduced functions, stages, and spatial units. Our results attest to the high intensity and technological continuity of pottery production at the Miaodigou site, confirming that the site was a regional production center through much of the Miaodigou culture period. We suggest that the centralized production of pottery had taken place at the Miaodigou site.

Stable isotopes reveal intensive pig husbandry practices in the middle Yellow River region by the Yangshao period (7000–5000 BP)

It is well-known that pigs (Sus scrofa) were domesticated very early in Neolithic China, but far less is known about the processes by which pig husbandry intensified so that pork became the most important animal protein for humans are less clear. Here, we explore pig feeding practices using the carbon and nitrogen isotope composition of bone collagen, focusing on developments in pig husbandry during the Yangshao period (7000–5000 BP) in the middle Yellow River region of China, and at the site of Xipo (5800–5000 BP) in particular. The results show that the diets of domestic pigs at Xipo were dominated by millet foods. Comparisons with other Yangshao sites in the region show a trend of increasing millet foddering for pigs throughout the Yangshao period. These results, and comparisons of the isotopic data for pigs against those for humans from the Xipo cemetery (5300–5000 BP), suggest that pigs were closely managed by humans. The evidence points to an intensification of Neolithic pig husbandry in the middle Yellow River region from this period.