Painted pottery urn (gang)
H 47 cm, D 32.7 cm, base 19.5 cm
Henan Yangshao culture (c. 3500-3000 B.C.)
From Yancun, Linru, Henan Province
Excavated in 1978
The National Museum of Chinese History, Beijing

Yangshao is one of the earliest Neolithic cultures identified in China and is among the best known. It encompasses several phases and two broad regional groupings: a central group around Henan province and a western group around Shaanxi province. This urn comes from the central Henan Yangshao culture found south of the Yellow River.

The Yangshao culture is often called the painted pottery culture (classification of pottery shapes and decorations is one way archaeologists identify cultural groupings). Yangshao vessels were typically decorated with designs abstracted from plant or animal forms into geometric patterns, which were further developed by the Majiayao culture.

The decoration on this vessel, however, is a notable departure from such abstract designs. The gang comes from a late Yangshao phase, when monochrome gray and black wares had begun to replace the earlier painted designs. It is all the more remarkable, then, that this pot should feature a prominent long-legged heron, realistically depicted with knee joints and a fish in its mouth. Beside it is a large axe, similarly detailed, with a haft and a woven leather grip. But what accounts for this naturalism, and for the odd juxtaposition of these surprising images?

Yangshao society was governed by kinship ties and remained strongly connected to the cycles and forces of nature. Animal imagery on Yangshao vessels -- fish, birds, frogs, or turtles -- might have represented animal powers or a wish for abundance and security, and may also have had ritual significance. The axe, on the other hand, was an important tool and may be seen as an attribute of authority. The combination of heron and axe on this vessel is incongruous but can hardly have been coincidental. It has been suggested that they function together as symbols, the bird identifying a clan or place name and the axe the vessel's owner. In that case, they would represent a very early stage in the development of graphic notation in China.

The six lugs around the outside of this pot allowed a lid to be tied on. When found it contained a human skeleton.