Xianrendong Cave is located at the foot of Xiaohe mountain, in Wannian county, northeast Jiangxi province of China, 15 kilometers (~10 miles) west of the provincial capital and 100 km (62 mi) south of the Yangtze river. According to the latest research, published in 2012, Xianrendong contains the oldest pottery in the world yet identified: ceramic vessel remains, bag-shaped jars made some ~20,000 calendar years ago (cal BP).
The cave includes a large inner hall, measuring some 5 meters (16 feet) wide by 5-7 m (16-23 ft) high with a small entrance, only 2.5 m (8 ft) wide and 2 m (6 ft) high. Located some 800 m (about 1/2 mile) from Xianrendong, and with an entrance some 60 m (200 ft) higher in elevation, is the Diaotonguan rockshelter: it contains the same cultural strata as Xianrendong and some archaeologists believe it was used as a campsite by Xianrendong's residents. Many of the published reports include information from both sites.
Cultural Stratigraphy at Xianrendong
Four cultural strata have been identified at Xianrendong, including an occupation spanning the transition from Upper Paleolithic to Neolithic times in China, and three early Neolithic occupations. All seem to represent primarily fishing, hunting and gathering lifestyles, although some evidence for early rice domestication has been noted within the Early Neolithic occupations.
At least some of the cultural strata appear to be mixed: some archaeological levels (called zones in the reports) have dates which are stratigraphically out of sequence. R. S. MacNeish, who jointly led the Sino-American excavations in the 1990s, conceded that because of the apparent mixing, likely due to the long occupation of the site, the earliest pottery could be dated no earlier than 13,500-11,800 radiocarbon years before the present (RCYBP, calibrated using Intercalc 09 to 16,700-13,680 cal BP). New dates, however, reported in Science in 2012 (Wu et al. 2012), substantiate a date of ~20,000 years cal BP.
- Neolithic 3 (9600-8825 RCYBP)
- Neolithic 2 (11900-9700 RCYBP)
- Neolithic 1 (14,000-11,900 RCYBP) appearance of O. sativa
- Epipaleolithic (25,000-15,200 RCYBP) only wild oryza
Paleolithic-Neolithic Transition (19,780-10,870 RCYBP)
Archaeological evidence suggests the earliest occupation at Xianrendong was a permanent, long term occupation or reuse, with evidence for substantial hearths and ash lenses. In general, a hunter-fisher-gatherer lifestyle was followed, with emphasis on deer and wild rice (Oryza nivara phytoliths).
Pottery: Pottery sherds from this level have uneven thick walls between .7 and 1.2 centimeters (~1.4-1.5 inches), with round bases and inorganic (sand, mainly quartz or feldspar) temper. The paste has a brittle and loose texture, and are a heterogeneous reddish and brown color from uneven, open air firing. Forms are mainly round-bottomed bag-shaped jars, with rough surfaces, the inner and outer surfaces sometimes decorated with cord marks, smoothing striations and/or basket-like impressions. They appear to have been made with two different techniques: by sheet laminating or coil and paddle techniques.
Lithic assemblages: The stone tools are by and large chipped stone tools based on flakes, with scrapers, burins, small projectile points, drills, notches and denticulates. Hard-hammer and soft-hammer stone tool making techniques are both in evidence. The oldest levels have a small percentage of polished stone tools compared to chipped, particularly in comparison with the Neolithic levels.
Bone tool industry: harpoons and fishing spear points, needles, arrowheads, and shell knives.
Faunal/floral: Predominant emphasis on deer, bird, shellfish, turtle; wild rice phytoliths.
Early Neolithic (12,430 RCYBP)
The Early Neolithic levels are also substantial occupations. The pottery has a wider variety of clay composition and many sherds are decorated with geometric designs. Clear evidence for rice cultivation, with both O. nivara and sativa phytoliths present. Increase in polished stone tools, with a primarily pebble tool industry including a few perforated pebble disks and flat pebble adzes.
Archaeological Studies
Xianrendong was excavated in 1961 and 1964 by the Jiangxi Provincial Committee for Cultural Heritage, led by Li Yanxian; in 1995-1996 by the Sino-American Jiangxi Origin of Rice Project, led by R.S. MacNeish, Wenhua Chen and Shifan Peng; and in 1999-2000 by Peking University and the Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics. In 2009, an international team (Wu 2012) reopened two trenches to re-examine the stratigraphy and collect new systematic samples for radiocarbon dates.
One tiny fragment of a ceramic sherd was the only new sherd discovered, however, the investigations clearly identified the mixed layer and concentrated on intact layers 2-6, and a suite of dates between 12,400 and 29,300 cal BP were taken. The lowest sherd-bearing levels, 2B-2B1, were subjected to 10 AMS radiocarbon dates, ranging from 19,200-20,900 cal BP, making Xianrendong's sherds the earliest identified pottery in the world today.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to the Neolithic, and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Chen X. 1999. On the earliest evidence for rice cultivation in China. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 18:81-94. Open Access.
Kuzmin YV. 2006. Chronology of the earliest pottery in East Asia: progress and pitfalls. Antiquity 80(308):362-371.
Shen C. 2008. ASIA, EAST | China, Paleolithic Cultures. In: Editor-in-Chief: Deborah MP, editor. Encyclopedia of Archaeology. New York: Academic Press. p 570-597.
Underhill AP. 2008. ASIA, EAST | China, Neolithic Cultures. In: Editor-in-Chief: Deborah MP, editor. Encyclopedia of Archaeology. New York: Academic Press. p 554-569.
Wang W-M, Ding J-L, Shu J-W, and Chen W. 2010. Exploration of early rice farming in China. Quaternary International 227(1):22-28.
Wu X, Zhang C, Goldberg P, Cohen D, Pan Y, Arpin T, and Bar-Yosef O. 2012. Early pottery at 20,000 years ago in Xianrendong Cave, China. Science 336:1696-1700.
Yang X. 2004. Xianrendong and Diaotonghuan Sites at Wannian, Jiangxi Province. In: Yang X, editor. Chinese Archaeology in the Twentieth Century: New Perspectives on China's Past. New Haven: Yale University Press. vol 2, p 36-37.
Zhang C, and Hung H-c. 2012. Later hunter-gatherers in southern China, 18,000–3000 BC. Antiquity 86(331):11-29.
Zhang PQ. 1997. Discussion of Chinese domesticated rice - 10,000 year-old rice at Xianrendong, Jiangxi Province. Second Session of International Symposium on Agricultural Archaeology.
Zhao C, Wu X, Wang T, and Yuan X. 2004. Early polished stone tools in South China evidence of the transition from Palaeolithic to Neolithic Documenta Praehistorica 31:131-137.
