Research Of The Kilns In Yellow River Region During Late Yangshao To Longshan Peroid

Yellow River Region is one of the birthplaces of Chinese Civilization. In the Neolithic, occupants created brilliant cultures. Kiln, as a kind of cultural materials, not only could provide a window to inspect technology, but is full of social information. This paper is an attempt to analyze Neolithic kilns during Late Yangshao to Longshan Period from a new perspective. It includes following chapters.In the preface part, the perspective of the paper is proposed after reviewing former studies of Neolithic kilns. To clarify the name of all parts of the kiln, I take a picture for examples.Chapter 1 is a study of kiln's types in the framework of archaeological culture. Yellow River Region can be divided as four subregions depending on natural geography, that is, Gansu-Qinghai Region, Hetao Region, Central China Region, and Shandong Region, which also are coincidental with archaeological regions. Almost all kilns could be categorized into several types from the outer shape, and subtypes from the fire path. Kilns are able to be classified to the next level relying on detailed differences. It needs to be noted that the typological approach connects to temporal and spatial framework.Chapter 2 is an examination of the evolution of kilns during Late Yangshao to Longshan Period. The trajectory and obvious structural difference of kiln can be clarified through the temporal comparison, while the shape of fire path relating to energy conduction. It is summarized primarily that the combination of straight and circle fire path was current during Late Yangshao Period, and combination of main and secondary fire path during Longshan Peroid. Chapter 3 is about the analysis of kiln's structure and the summary of their characteristics. Each part of the kiln, such as room, gate, grate, path, crate, and chamber, has different shape at each time. It can be summarized that the size of room became bigger, and the form more, grate were used more frequently, fire holes were more and more and distributed more averagely, and up-down structure of crate developed to front-behind, etc. The change of fire path is most sensitive, which can be summed up to three systems, that is, straight-circle system, parallel system, and main-secondary system. The first two were main forms during Late Yangshao Period, and the last was popular during Longshan Period.Chapter 4 is a discussion part about relating questions. Similarity and difference of kiln structure can be summarized by temporary comparison, providing a clue of kiln evolution. Circle fire path system became dominate during Middle Yangshao Period in Southern Gansu, Western and Central Shaanxi. During Late Yangshao Period, straight-circle fire path system appeared in Southern Gansu, Western and Central Shaanxi, and the main-secondary system in Northern and Central Henan, Southern Hebei, and Central Shanxi, which was less than the straight-circle one. During Longshan Period, main-secondary form became the current one, widely distributed in Yellow River Region, and the parallel system was only limited in the boundary region of Shaanxi and Shanxi. At the end of the chapter, relating questions about specialization, building tools, copper metallurgy, lime, and ritual are explored.Chapter 5 is the conclusion of the whole study.