Archaeol. Anthropol. Sci.｜Pottery Technology Analysis Reveals Diverse Pottery-Making Traditions of the Qijia Culture Period at the Lajia Site, Hehuang Valley

Recently, the Center for Archaeological Sciences and the School of Archaeology and Museology at Sichuan University, in collaboration with the Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and other institutions, jointly published a research paper titled “Beyond stylistic typology: Archaeometric reconstruction of diverse pottery traditions and intercommunity interactions at the Lajia site (2300–1900 BCE), Northwest China” in the internationally authoritative journal *Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences*. The first author is Luo Yingjie, a PhD candidate at the Center for Archaeological Sciences. The corresponding authors are Associate Professor Du Zhanwei and Professor Li Haichao from the Center for Archaeological Sciences. Co-authors include Professor Yu Mengzhou from the Center for Archaeological Sciences, Research Curator Wang Qianqian and Associate Research Curator Du Wei from the Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Curator Zhen Qiang from the Jiaxing Institute of Cultural Relics Preservation and Archaeology, and Professor Cui Jianfeng from the School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University.

The period around the second millennium BCE was a critical phase of transition from the Neolithic Age to the Bronze Age. During this period, settlements of the Qijia culture (2300–1500 BC), Machang culture (2300–2000 BC), and Xichengyi culture (2000–1700 BC) were widely distributed in Northwest China. Among them, the Xichengyi culture is considered the successor to the Machang culture, and the Qijia culture was contemporaneous with both at different times. This region, situated in the transitional zone between the Eurasian Steppe and the Central Plains, has always been a crucial corridor for population and cultural interaction.

In Qijia culture sites in Northwest China, a small number of tripods such as *jia*, *li*, and *he* are found. These tripods are common in contemporaneous sites in eastern regions like Guanzhong and northern Shaanxi. The tripods unearthed from Qijia sites are very similar in vessel shape and style to those from the aforementioned regions, suggesting influence from the east. The traditional view holds that the Qijia culture was initially formed by the westward migration of populations from near the Longshan Mountains and their interaction with Machang groups in the northwest. Later, Qijia communities in the Tao River Valley and the Hehuang region came into close contact with the Xichengyi culture communities in the Hexi Corridor, which developed from the Machang culture. Consequently, earlier sites in the region commonly feature a coexistence of Qijia, Machang, and Eastern-style pottery, while later sites commonly show a coexistence of Qijia, Xichengyi, and Eastern-style pottery, implying the existence of multi-group interactions. However, the mechanisms of exchange between these groups remained unclear.

To understand the nature of this phenomenon of coexisting pottery styles in Longshan-era settlements in Northwest China and the mechanisms of inter-group exchange, the research team centered on the Qijia culture settlement at the Lajia site in the Hehuang region of Northwest China. They employed a comprehensive approach, integrating macroscopic observation, petrographic analysis, and chemical composition analysis to systematically study the production technology of 177 pottery sherds of different styles unearthed from the site.

The analysis shows that although all pottery used high-calcium clay as the main raw material, there were significant technological differentiations among the different styles. Qijia-style pottery was mostly locally produced. Its fine-paste ware (such as high-collared jars and double-handled jars) exhibited a relatively uniform raw material recipe and finishing technique, whereas its sand-tempered ware showed more flexible clay processing methods. Although Machang-style painted pottery had a chemical composition similar to Qijia pottery, its unique purple-red slip, internal scraping marks, and differences in paste preparation suggest it may have been produced by another pottery-making group in a geologically similar location, not ruling out importation through short-distance exchange. The Eastern-style tripods exhibited two technological traditions: pottery with metamorphic rock fragments was locally made, while vessels containing granite and biotite may have originated from the Tao River Valley. Xichengyi-style painted pottery was characterized by hornblende and granite as typical non-plastic inclusions, inconsistent with the local geological environment, and was likely imported directly from the Hexi Corridor. Based on these findings, the study summarizes two interaction models reflected by the diverse pottery traditions at the Lajia site:

Model A (Local technological hybridization) is characterized by the local production of non-local forms, such as some Eastern-style tripods made with local raw materials and techniques. This reflects the absorption of foreign vessel forms by the local pottery-making group, suggesting a shared identity or social practice between the Lajia settlement and eastern communities.

Model B (Cross-regional exchange network) encompasses the short-distance exchange of Machang pottery and the long-distance exchange of pottery evidenced by some Eastern-style tripods and Xichengyi painted pottery. The long-distance exchange network extended eastward to the Tao River Valley and possibly westward to the Hexi Corridor. These two types of exchange together highlight Lajia's core status as a cultural hub in the eastern Hehuang region.

This study is the first to reveal the technological traditions of the coexisting different styles of pottery within the Qijia culture settlement at the Lajia site in Northwest China from 2300–1900 BCE, providing key evidence for the study of inter-group cultural contact and interaction in Northwest China during the second millennium BCE.

Figure 1. Different styles of pottery coexisting during the Qijia culture period at the Lajia site.

Figure 2. Petrographic photomicrographs of some representative pottery from the Lajia site.

Figure 3. Convergence of objects and technologies from eastern and western directions in the eastern Hehuang region, where the Lajia site is located, around the second millennium BCE.

Author: Luo Yingjie

Reviewed by: Du Zhanwei