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Chronology of the earliest pottery in East Asia: progress and pitfalls

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Yaroslav V. Kuzmin
Yaroslav V. Kuzmin*
Affiliation:
Pacific Institute of Geography, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Radio St. 7, Vladivostok 690041, Russia (Email: [email protected])
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Extract

The origin of pottery is among the most important questions in Old World archaeology. The author undertakes a critical review of radiocarbon dates associated with the earliest pottery-making and eliminates a number of them where the material or its context are unreliable. Using those that survive this process of ‘chronometric hygiene’, he proposes that food-containers made of burnt clay originated in East Asia in the Late Glacial, c. 13 700-13 300 BP, and appeared in three separate regions, in Japan, China and far eastern Russia, at about the same time.

Keywords

East AsiaNeolithicPalaeolithic-Neolithic transitionpotteryradiocarbon dating
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 80 , Issue 308 , 1 June 2006 , pp. 362 - 371
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2006

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