The invention of pottery is an important symbol of the development of human civilization. This is the first time that human beings use natural objects and create brand-new objects according to their own wishes. Judging from historical records and archaeological discoveries. China is one of the first countries to invent pottery in the world. In China, the first tableware-pottery was born in the Neolithic Age in 67000 BC. The historical book "Zhou Shu" records: "God cultivated Jin", and the Yellow Emperor began to pot the kettle. And "cooking in Sri Lanka, eating in Sri Lanka" means both cooking and eating.
Archaeology has proved that humans living in the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins in China in 6700 BC entered the Neolithic Age. In the Neolithic Age, humans not only created polished stone tools with complete shapes, but also created pottery, a craft product that best represented the cultural level of that era. In the Neolithic cultural sites, almost all clay pottery products were unearthed, so that era was also called the pottery age. In a sense, pottery is indeed the first "work" created by human beings and the main creation left by human beings in plastic arts. Painted pottery is an outstanding craft creation in primitive society of China, and it is the main symbol of Neolithic Age.
Pottery is closely related to people's daily life. With the relative improvement of primitive human production level, it came into being under the background of pursuing "gourmet culture". In the long-term production practice, especially in the long-term use of fire, ancient humans realized that fire could change the properties of some substances, and gradually mastered the experience of controlling and applying fire, which prepared a prerequisite for the production of pottery.
Before pottery was invented, people used bonfires to cook or barbecue food. Or build a pit with stones, peel the prey, put it in into the pit, cover it and heat it until it is cooked. For a long time, people have been trying to create a good household appliance for cooking, storage and eating to obtain cooked food. In the later period of primitive cooked food, people tried to put food into a vessel woven with plant branches and then barbecue it in the fire. However, they soon found that the food was often not cooked, but the plants containing the food had turned to ashes, and the food naturally fell into the raging flame or ashes. Delicious food turned into unpalatable charcoal food. Later, they tried to smear the inside and outside of plant woven fabrics with mud, or directly wrap food with mud and barbecue it in the fire. Unexpectedly, the mud becomes hard and fine after high temperature, which not only protects the painted pottery jar from food, but also can be used repeatedly. This attempt was originally intended to get a delicious meal that was no longer difficult to swallow and hurt the spleen and stomach, but it turned out to be a great milestone in the history of human development, and pottery was born.
Pottery is the product of the development of human society to a certain stage, which is accompanied by social progress. The Neolithic people no longer lived by gathering and hunting, but began to enter a new stage of agricultural planting and animal husbandry. People can safely control and expand the sources of food, thus changing the living conditions of hungry people who want food and full people who give up food. The development of agricultural planting and animal husbandry changed people's way of life, and people began to settle down. Settled people have a stronger demand for utensils that can conveniently cook and store food. Since then, our ancestors have made this most "cutting-edge" and "fashionable" mud-burning apparatus with more and more dexterous hands, smarter brains and richer aesthetic tastes.
In the various hobbies of diet, human beings are carefully shaping all kinds of edible utensils. They made ceramic food containers for different purposes: cups, plates, beans, bowls, pots, cans, cans, jars, pots and so on. Take the Neolithic culture in the Yellow River valley as an example, Pei Ligang's round-bellied tripod, three-legged bowl, two-eared pot, deep-bellied pot and high-legged bean. Small-mouthed long-necked jars, round-mouthed jars and round-mouthed jars in Cishan, round-bellied bowls, spherical-bellied jars and round-bottomed bowls in Dadiwan Phase I culture, large-mouthed jars, concave-bottomed jars, small-mouthed cups, flat-bottomed bowls and cup-shaped ding in Li Jiacun, and small-mouthed flat-bottomed urns in Laoguantai, etc. In these early Neolithic cultural remains before Yangshao culture, the shape of utensils is almost complete.
The invention of pottery is an epoch-making change in prehistoric times. In the history of human society, the invention of pottery is a great pioneering work. Before that, all human tools were physical processing of ready-made objects in nature, while pottery was made from natural raw materials by changing their inherent shapes and properties through chemical reactions, thus making utensils needed by human production and life. Pottery is the first great invention since the birth of mankind. This invention has a far-reaching influence on the process of civilization. For thousands of years before metal utensils entered social life, pottery has always been the most important living appliance for human beings. Until today, it has not completely withdrawn from our lives. In China, the invention of pottery is regarded as one of the signs that the Paleolithic Age entered the Neolithic Age, and the first pottery invented by human beings was used for cooking. It can be said that the first cooker of human beings came into being with the arrival of the Neolithic Age.
This can be seen. Due to the needs of life, the invention of pottery came into being. More precisely, it was invented for the pursuit of a better life with the improvement of primitive human production level.
In Yangshao era, the appearance of painted pottery further beautified people's diet life. Painted pottery first appeared in the first phase of Dadiwan culture (about 7800-7350 years ago), and only purple wide stripes were drawn on the mouth edges of some pots, while the mouth edges of pots and bowls were mostly serrated. During the Yangshao culture, pottery began to be colored all over, and the color tone was red, which has been appreciated since the Neanderthals, but it added the color of decorative patterns. In the early stage, it is mainly black and red, and in the later stage, it is often wrapped in a layer of white, and then painted with black, yellow and purple. So as to form a two-color or multi-color pattern. Painting is mainly applied to the mouth and abdomen at the outer end of the vessel, and some large open vessels, such as shallow-bottomed basins, are also painted on the inner wall. In the whole Yangshao culture era after the middle Neolithic Age (about 6700-5000 years ago), pottery tableware became more prosperous than ever before, and its shapes became richer. Among them, more than 500,000 pieces of pottery and pottery pieces unearthed from Xi 'an Banpo site have all kinds of daily utensils, but there are only 23 kinds and 45 kinds of pottery pots. If we hadn't paid more attention to cooking and barbecue, there wouldn't have been such a detailed division of utensils.
Generally speaking, bowls with rice, plates with vegetables, beans with meat and bowls with soup are all colorful, which reflects the diversity and flavor of food cooking. Since the pottery age, it is not difficult to infer and understand the amazing types of painted pottery vessels. At this time, our ancestors have been trying to create a delicious and colorful life.
Since then, most of the tableware with different shapes have been painted pottery products, such as fish-patterned painted pottery pots on Xi Banpo, frog-patterned painted pottery pots in Jiangzhai, Lintong, boat-shaped painted pottery pots in Beishouling, Baoji, polka-dot arc-shaped painted pottery pots in Miaodigou, white painted pottery pots and painted pottery double pots in Dahe Village, Zhengzhou, etc., especially painted pottery pots with lifting beams, frog-patterned painted pottery pots and vortex-patterned painted pottery unearthed at Majiayao site, a representative of Yangshao culture in Gansu. It can be seen that the earliest theory of beauty in the Spring and Autumn Period also talked about "five flavors". As well as the later "taste theory" and "charm theory", it should be said that China people's cognition of food beauty has made a leap from the pottery age!
Painted pottery is an outstanding achievement of Yangshao culture, painted in ochre, red and black. Painted pottery art has a strong flavor of life and a unique artistic style. It is coated on the ceramic blank before the pottery is fired, and the color pattern is fixed on the surface of the ware after firing and is not easy to fall off. Some people will paint a layer of white pottery before painting to make the painted patterns more vivid. Painted pottery patterns are mainly flower patterns and geometric patterns, but there are also a few animal patterns. Geometric patterns mainly include: chordal pattern, reticulate pattern, sawtooth pattern, triangular pattern, checkered pattern, vertical pattern, vortex pattern, round pattern, folded pattern and wide band pattern. But also the moon, the sun, the Big Dipper and other patterns. Animal patterns are common, such as fish patterns, bird patterns and frog patterns. There are many animal prints, such as pig prints, dog prints and deer prints. Some of them are running, others are standing. The appearance of these animal images reflects the important position of fishing pigs in the primitive social life at that time. The numbers are few. 1973, a pottery bowl was unearthed in Datong county, Qinghai province, and three groups of dancers were painted on the inner wall of the bowl. In a group of five, the dance is neat, beautiful and delicate. Plant patterns, rice and wheat grains, branches and leaves and petals were found on the Hemudu cultural pottery in Zhejiang province 6800 years ago, and some of them were even summarized as geometric shapes, which were mixed with geometric patterns to form patterns, forming a unique style and having a special taste.
Painted pottery cookers mainly include cookers, food containers, wine containers and containers. Cooking utensils: pottery stoves, pots, retort, retort, retort, jar, etc. Tableware: bowls, cups, beans, plates, spoons, bowls, small-mouth flat-bottomed bottles, small-mouth sharp-bottomed bottles, flat-bottomed pots, sharp-bottomed pots, baskets, plates, pans, etc. Wine vessels: wine vessels, wine vessels, wine vessels, wine vessels, goblets, etc. Container: urn, jar, pot, open jar, lid jar, double ear tip bottom jar, double ear waist peak jar, etc.