Page 72 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

of the relationships between Majiayao and other fourth-millennium cultures in the Gansu-
Qinghai area.
The shapes of the "Type C" vessels, the use of purplish red pigment, and the dentate bands
discernible in their decor, moreover, are characteristic of the later Banshan pottery tradition,
which flourished in Gansu during the second half of the third millennium. An understanding of
the relationship between these two ceramic groups and the cultures they represent is a further-
challenge posed by the discoveries at Zongri. The Zongri finds thus provide tantalizing new
evidence bearing on the genesis and interrelationships of several of the important painted pot-
tery traditions in western China that succeeded the earlier Banpo phase. Much will depend
upon obtaining further radiocarbon dates for the Zongri sites against which the validity of the
present early dates can be judged. LF-H

1 Andersson 1943, 88-99; pis. 45-57,181-185; 7 Qinghai 1979, 29-32.
Sommarstrom 1956, 55 -138; pis. 1-60. 8 Qinghai 1998, i -14, 35; pis. 1-5; Chen 1998,15 - 26.
2 Sommarstrom 1956, pi. 9:13 - c. 9 The mixture of Majiayao and Zongri "Type C" wares occurs
3 Zhongguo Gaqing 1990, 577 - 586; pi. i; Guo 1958, 36 - 49. at many sites along the upper reaches of the Huanghe
2
4 Zhongguo 1991, 274, 279, 281-284, &7- from Guide southwest to Tongde (Chen 1998, 20, fig. 4;
5 An extensive report on the Linjia finds is published in 23-26).
Gansu 19843,111-161; pis. 15-25. 10 Chen 1998,19.
6 Gansu 19843, pis. 20:2; 23:3 - 4.

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