ZHAO Chaohong, WU Xiaohong

( Beijing University)

Abstract: Pottery is another significant invention in history since the discovery of fire .Pottery dating back to more than ten thousand years ago was separately found in the east Asia and far east regions such as China, Japan and Russia by archaeologists .Early pottery wares or sherds were discovered by Chinese archaeologists in the ancient sites of Xianren Cave in Wannian of Jiangxi,Miaoyan of Guilin of Guangxi , Yuchao yan of Daoxian county of Hunan, Yujiagou of Yangyuan of Hebei .These findings has been stifically determined to show that some were even dated back around 17 thousand years ago .This demonstrated that China is one of the countries for the invention of early pottery .From the excavated pottery pieces, we can find that they are sandy earthenware with thick wall and low firing temperature ranging from 600 ℃ to 800 ℃.The forms of these early pottery are jars of pots, hand kneaded, or shaped by clay -strip sticking method, and reflect the characteristics of the art of early pottery .

Key words: pottery, archaeology