Two pottery styles at one site: Chemical and mineralogical insights from the Liudun site in the Yangtze-Huaihe region of China

Excavations in the Yangtze-Huaihe region, a culture crossroads of southern and northern China, have uncovered numerous Late Neolithic sites with pottery stylistically featuring two or more contemporaneous cultures, indicating contact and exchange with areas like the eastern seaboard (Haidai). This study uses benchtop X-ray fluorescence, X-ray powder diffraction, and thermal expansion methods to investigate the chemical and mineralogical compositions and firing temperatures of 62 Longshan-style and Qianshanyang-style vessel sherds from the Liudun site in the Yangtze-Huaihe region. Typological analysis suggests that both pottery styles coexisted at Liudun, though the reasons for this remained unexplored.

The chemical variability indicates that three clay sources were used for the investigated pottery, with two shared by both styles and one noticed only among the Longshan style. The mineralogical composition of 20 Longshan and six Qianshanyang coarse-paste sherds is largely consistent, possibly indicating similar tempering practices. Firing minerals such as spinel indicate some pottery may have been fired at higher temperatures. Thermal expansion analysis confirmed that both Longshan and Qianshanyang pottery were fired at two different temperature ranges: lower (700–800 °C) and higher (900–1000 °C). Combining archaeometric evidence with pottery functions and styles, we conclude that the two pottery styles were produced at Liudun using local clays and tempering materials. We propose that Qianshanyang vessels were recreated items at this Longshan-type site rather than imported finished products.