Tripod vessels seem to have appeared for the first time in north China during the early period of the Neolithic culture, probably in the 6th millennium B.C.E., and they were used throught north and south China by the middle Neolithic period.
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Tripod vessels seem to have appeared for the first time in north China during the early period of the Neolithic culture, probably in the 6th millennium B.C.E., and they were used throught north and south China by the middle Neolithic period.
In northeast China, the tripod vessels are found for the first time in the Xiaozhushan III culture of the 4th millennium B.C.E. in the southern tip of Liaodong peninsula. Both ding and gui vessels have been discovered and are very similar to those of the contemporary Dawenkou culture of Shandong peninsula. It is clear that these tripod vessels were produced and used in this area under the direct influence of the Dawenkou culture. These vessels continued to be used in the late phase of the Neolithic period in Liaodong peninsula. However, no tripod vessels were used during the Neolithic period in the othe rparts of northeast China.
Tripod vessels became very popular in some of the Bronze Age cultures in northeast China. In western Liaoning and southeastern Inner Mongolia, one of the most important types of pottery was li tripod in the Lower Xiajiadian culture of the 2nd millennium B.C.E. In the Dadianzi cemetery, Inner Mongolia, li tripod occupies almost one-third of all the mortuary vessels and is only second to the guan flat-bottomed pot. In addition to li tripod, ding tripod and yan steamer were also used in this early phase of the Bronze Age. In the subsequent Weiyingzi, Upper Xiajiadian, and Shi’ertaiyingzi cultures of the Bronze Agein in this area, li and ding tripod continued to be used but yan steamer were used less frequently.
In the lower reaches of Liao River, all three types of tripod vessels, li, ding, and yan were all manufactured and used in the Gaotaishan culture, Shunshantun type, and Upper Xinle type of the 2nd millennium B.C.E. It seems that the development of the tripod pottery culture in this region was the result of the contact with their western neighbors of the Lower Xiajiadian culture in western Liaoning and southeastern Inner Mongolia.
In Liaodong peninsula, the tradition of the tripod pottery culture from the Neolithic period continued to the Bronze Age. In contrast to the tripod vessels of western Liaoning, li tripod was never popular in this area, suggesting a different pottery tradition. It is noteworthy that in the middle of the 2nd millennium B.C.E. the Yueshi culture of Shandong peninsula made a significant effect on the Shuangtuozi II culture of Liaodong peninsula, suggesting the close cultural interaction between the two peninsulas.
In the Xituanshan culture of central Jilin, ding tripod is most commonly discovered among the tripod vessels. It was used in everyday life and often buried as a mortuary item in a stone coffin. Li tripod has been rarely discovered and only in houses of the Xituanshan culture, whereas few yan steamers have been excavated.
In the Song-Nen Plain of northern Jilin and southwestern Heilongjiang, li, and only li, tripod was produced and used during the Bronze Age of this area. For instance, li tripod occupies more than one-sixth of about 300 vessels during the third phase at the Baijinbao site. Li tripod continues to be used until the end of the Bronze Age in this area.
Among the tripod vessels, li tripod was the major type of vessel in the western part of northeast China, including southeastern Inner Mongolia, western Liaoning, western reaches of Liao River, northeastern Jilin, and southwestern Heilongjiang. However, some societies in eastern parts of northeast China never used tripod vessels during the Neolithic and Bronze Age, including valleys of Yalu and Tuman rivers and Sanjiang Plain of Heilongjiang. In the areas between these two contrasting regions, tripod vessels were used but dingt ripod was the most important type. Thus, it is possible to divide northeast China into three different areas on the basis of the use and development of the tripod vessels.