Gaomiao Relics, Hunan Province Earliest White Pottery
Period: Neolithic (circa 9000 BC)) Listed in:
2005 Excavated by: the Hunan
Province Cultural Relics and Archeological
Research Institutioin Archeological team leader: He Gang
The Gaomiao Relics are situated in Yanli village,
5 km northeast of Hongjiang, Hunan Province. The excavation site is a shell
mound on the northern bank of the Yuan River and covers an area of 30,000 square
meters. Unearthed objects currently include various pottery decorated with
phoenix, animal face, and eight-square star-images; the earliest white
pottery
found in China; and the
joint tombs of tribe leaders and their wives, all of which are of key importance
learning about the culture of the Neolithic age in the area.
The
large scale of the sacrificing site unearthed at the lower stratum of Gaomiao
site is quite rare among the contemporaneous prehistoric relics. The various
establishments in the site could help to tell about people's sacrificing
activities in that period. The distribution and structure of the altars
also greatly influenced the later development of Chinese sacrificial
activities.
The discovery of the Gaomiao relics has filled in the
archeological blank on the middle and late Neolithic period in western Hunan. It
reveals not only its connection with the late Paleolithic culture, but also the
mutual influence with the contemporaneous Neolithic culture in Dongting
Lake
area and Zhujiang
Valley.
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