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Black pottery is a black pottery with a thin pottery body, tight fetal bones, and is dark and shiny. It is the most exquisitely made among the Longshan Culture pottery. When the black pottery is fired, the charcoal method of sealing the kiln with smoke is used, resulting in a deep black luster on the surface. Its surface is polished and plain, with only a few strings, scratches or holes in the decoration. Blackness, thinness, lightness and texture are the four characteristics of black pottery. Among them is a kind of thin-body black pottery, which is as black and shiny as an eggshell. Scholars call it “eggshell black pottery”, which represents the outstanding achievements of this type of pottery.

Eggshell black pottery is the most representative pottery of Longshan Culture in Shandong, reflecting the level of the highly developed pottery industry at that time. Most of them are plain or polished, with fewer patterns, mainly string patterns, scratches, and holes.

Description ：

Pottery making is an important symbol of the Neolithic Age. The earliest pottery discovered so far is the relic of the ancients 8800 years ago. Longshan culture thin-bodied black pottery ear pot, as thin as an eggshell, black and shiny like a metal product, extremely delicate and lightweight, although it has been preserved for thousands of years, it is the most representative of ancient pottery. can be valuable. 4300 years。Black, thin, light and buttons are its four major characteristics

In addition to fine pottery, the Late Neolithic in China witnessed the development of jade carving, lacquering and other jewellery crafts, confirmed by the increasing number of precious artifacts discovered in the graves of wealthy individuals. It was also during the third millennium that bronze metallurgy evolved.

Neolithic period, ca. 7000–1700 BCE

The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is characterized by the beginning of a settled human lifestyle. People learned to cultivate plants and domesticate animals for food, rather than rely solely on hunting and gathering. That coincided with the use of more sophisticated stone tools, which were useful for farming and animal herding. In China, this period began around 7000 BCE and lasted until 1700 BCE. It is traditionally believed that Chinese civilization first emerged along the Yellow River and then spread to other parts of China. However, recent archaeological evidence suggests that a number of distinct cultures developed simultaneously across China, all along waterways. These cultures were located near the coastal areas, the Yellow River in the north, and the Yangzi River in the south. They are usually named after the site where remains of the culture were first discovered by modern archaeologists.

Neolithic people did not write. However, because they lived in settled communities, they left many traces behind, including the foundations of their houses, burial sites, tools, and crafts. We learn from the archaeological record that their diet included millet or rice, they domesticated pigs and dogs, and, as in all Neolithic cultures, there was extensive pottery production. Cultures in central China along the Yellow River were known for their painted pottery. Toward the late Neolithic period (ca. 5000–1700 BCE), fine gray and black pottery of elaborate forms were produced by cultures along the east and southeast coasts. The forms and decorative patterns of these pottery vessels continued to the Shang dynasty (ca. 1600–1050 BCE) and inspired the craftsmen of bronzes. Jade carving is another advanced craft invented by Neolithic people. It plays a major part in Chinese culture to this day. Neolithic jade objects include personal ornaments, such as bracelets, earrings, and pendants, but most importantly, objects designed for ritual or ceremonial use, such as axe heads, blades, and knives. Hongshan culture (ca. 3800–2700 BCE) in the northeast produced some of the earliest jades used as pendants, including the so-called pig dragons (a creature with the head of a pig and the curled body of a dragon) and the toothed pendants (see F1991.52). Both kinds were found placed on the chest of tomb occupants. Liangzhu (ca. 3300–2250 BCE) people along the southeast coast made jade objects shaped like disks (bi) and tubes (cong) in large numbers. These objects were found carefully lined up around the deceased. Although the exact function of these jade pieces remains a mystery, they no doubt possessed important social and ritual value. Status objects like elaborate pottery and carved jades were placed in tombs during the Neolithic period. This practice suggests two things: Neolithic people’s belief in the afterlife and the emergence of social classes. Only important and wealthy individuals had the privilege of being buried with these precious objects, especially jades. These objects were luxuries, not necessary for life but cherished for for their beauty and ceremonial value. They required large amounts of raw materials and skilled labor to produce and were therefore accessible only to the ruling class, thus showing the existence of a surplus of wealth and labor in society. The arts of Neolithic China not only demonstrate technical sophistication and superb craftsmanship but also reveal social organization and the emergence of religious beliefs. Even before the widespread use of metal implements, Neolithic cultures in China produced fine pottery and carved jades, the most elaborate of which were buried in the graves of important personages. A belief in the afterlife and in the ability of deceased forebears to exert influence over life in the present world led to the practice of ancestor worship, especially among those in power in Bronze Age China. To appease ancestral spirits, ritual offerings of food and wine were presented in highly decorated bronze vessels; these vessels were later interred in their owners’ tombs, along with numerous other grave goods designed for use in the afterlife. The demand for bronze vessels reached its peak during the Shang (c. 1600–c. 1050 BCE) and Zhou (c. 1050–256 BCE) dynasties. Jades used for either ritual or ornamental purposes were buried with the dead from the late Neolithic period (c. 5000–c. 2000 BCE) to the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). The creation of these intricate objects required the control of vast quantities of raw materials and skilled labor—something possible only for the ruling class. Bronzes and other tomb objects required for religious rites thus came to symbolize the power of the elite. Designed as ritual objects, the works in this gallery are now appreciated both for their aesthetic qualities and for what they reveal about China’s illustrious past, as it evolved from a series of Neolithic settlements to clusters of powerful kingdoms, and eventually to a unified empire.