The Dissemination of Miaodigou Culture Painted Pottery

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Technology and Design in 4th and 3rd Millennium BCE China" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The cultural sequence of the Wei River valley, as exemplified by Miaodigou Culture of the Middle Yangshao Period, represents a pinnacle as reflected in its masterfully crafted ceramics. The classical forms are pointed-bottomed amphorae, flat-bottomed bottles, coarseware jars, deep basins, and deep bowls. Of special importance are red vessels that have been painted with bird motifs, curved triangles, floral motifs, leaf motifs, eye motifs, crescents, whirls, bands, and net patterns. This painted ware is distributed almost throughout the whole Yellow River Valley. At the same time, the amphorae and painted vessels of the Miaodigou Culture had a marked influence on the ceramics of surrounding regions. In the east, this influence reached the sea at the mouth of the Yellow River. In the south, it crossed the Qinling Mountains to the northern and southern shores of the Middle Yangzi River. In the north, it arrived at the south-central part of Inner Mongolia and to Northeast China. And in the west, the Gansu and Qinghai regions received this influence. This makes it the largest archaeological culture in prehistoric China in terms of its distribution and influence as well as an important factor for the search of the origins of Chinese civilization.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Technology and Design in 4th and 3rd Millennium BCE China   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26030