18,000-year-old Chinese pottery

[samsong]

I wonder what people were doing back then.

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090602/ap_on_...ancient_pottery

[HongKong2LA]

I wonder what people were doing back then.

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090602/ap_on_...ancient_pottery

 

Waiting for NOA2, interviews dates and responding to RFE's...lol

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

I wonder what people were doing back then.

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090602/ap_on_...ancient_pottery

 

 

Several months back, my wife and I visited a site in Xian, where some of the oldest artifacts and burials had been found in China. The site is said to be around 8,000 years old. I don't recall the name of the site, but it's nearby the Terra-cotta warriors.

 

It sounds like there is a bit of controversy regarding the dating of the site you mentioned. It does seem like they are dating it quite a bit older than it actually may be.

[david_dawei]

CFL Subforum: Chinese History & Philosophy

 

See pottery link.

 

Chinese History and Philosophy, Part II: Dynasties

 

II. DYNASTIES

 

 

ANCIENT CHINA:

 

NEOLITIC CULTURES:

According to Chinese tradition, the cradle of Chinese civilization is the Huang He valley (Yellow River¡ªsilt and mud produce a yellowish color); about 10,000 BC an agrarian culture developed comparable to the Nile Valley and oral [myth] traditions were most likely being passed down; millet was grown as early as 5500 BC; Around 5000 BC village settlements existed. Pottery had been used since 16,000 BC (see: http://arheologija.ff.uni-lj.si/documenta/pdf29/29chi.pdf ). The earliest form of writing on tortoise shells (though debated if it is a writing system) dates to 6500 BC (Jiahu script) and 5000 BC (Banpo script). Due to the similarities to Shang Dynasty characters, it is believed this could put Chinese writing as the earliest form of writing, 2000 years before Cuneiform. See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2956925.stm .

[Guest Pommey]

one thing I've learnt from Jin is that trying to pin down "chinese history" is like panning for gold.

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

one thing I've learnt from Jin is that trying to pin down "chinese history" is like panning for gold.

 

You're right. There is so much history, going back so much further than we know.

[samsong]

one thing I've learnt from Jin is that trying to pin down "chinese history" is like panning for gold.

 

You're right. There is so much history, going back so much further than we know.

What we do know is more than 5,000 years of written history, more than any other civilization on earth and no telling how far it went back to in prehistoric times. 20,000? 50,000?

[knloregon]

David, I think the Neolitic cultural reference you cite is the same culture that SQN references, at least it sounds the same.

 

I think I may have toured the same archeological digs he did in Xian ten years ago. Not only were these early people making pots, but as I recall, they were using them as burial vessels as well. many of the skeletal remains were still in position, on site as they were buried.

[knloregon]

And if you want to really trace Chinese history and culture back a ways, check out the Chinese museum in Shanghai----a must see, in my book. Yes there is so much history in China---and art. But they do a great job of focusing.... So its amazing to see a carefully crafted, and beautifully flowing dragon form, carved into white jade, as I recall-----dated from about 5,000 years ago.

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

David, I think the Neolitic cultural reference you cite is the same culture that SQN references, at least it sounds the same.

 

I think I may have toured the same archeological digs he did in Xian ten years ago. Not only were these early people making pots, but as I recall, they were using them as burial vessels as well. many of the skeletal remains were still in position, on site as they were buried.

 

 

Here are a few photos from that site in Xian:

 

http://i41.tinypic.com/122hmvm.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/2ilbwiq.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/2s0jw40.jpg

[samsong]

There's the world- and then there's China.

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

David, I think the Neolitic cultural reference you cite is the same culture that SQN references, at least it sounds the same.

 

I think I may have toured the same archeological digs he did in Xian ten years ago. Not only were these early people making pots, but as I recall, they were using them as burial vessels as well. many of the skeletal remains were still in position, on site as they were buried.

 

 

Here are a few photos from that site in Xian:

 

http://i41.tinypic.com/122hmvm.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/2ilbwiq.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/2s0jw40.jpg

 

--

[knloregon]

I remember that you could walk entire around the enclosed site, as shown in the pictures, but I also remember human skeletal remains which aren't present in the photos. Perhaps they they been taken to a different location for further study?

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

I remember that you could walk entire around the enclosed site, as shown in the pictures, but I also remember human skeletal remains which aren't present in the photos. Perhaps they they been taken to a different location for further study?

 

Sounds like the same place. This photo is also from that location:

 

http://i44.tinypic.com/2e23zit.jpg

[knloregon]

Yeah, that it alright. Vry sophisticated burial rights considering the time.

Vessels carefully arranged with the body. Plus, as I remember, buried within the housing compound, kept close to the extended family.