A Preliminary Study On Helmet-shaped Vessels Of Shang-Zhou Period In North Shandong Area

Helmet-shaped vessels (used for salt-boiling) have been found and unearthed generally along the coastal area in north Shandong, few in the inland; therefore, it’s believed they have close relation to the salt-production of Shang-Zhou period. Previously, the academia paid less attention to them, even though they were found in large quantities.Since the year of2000, archaeological surveys and excavations has been carried out, helmet-shaped vessels have been found, all the work accumulates large quantities of new materials for the comprehensive research in this area. Meanwhile, the application of scientific technologies into archaeology extents the study of the vessels, such as producing place and usages. Based on the previous achievements, this paper intends to do primarily research on the producing place of the helmet-shaped vessels, its development, and then the relevant problems, such as the origin, distribution, usage and where they were made.The paper is consisted of5parts as the following:Chapter Ⅰ. Introduction:the geographical situations, archaeological findings and research, the aims and methods of this paper are introduced in details.Chapter Ⅱ. Stages and times of the helmet-shaped vessels. Based on the chronology and typology of the representative salt-production sites and referring to the typology of the daily pottery with helmet-shaped vessels found in the inland, the chronological frame of the helmet-shaped vessels in north Shandong area will be set up, and the frame is the scale for other helmet-shaped vessels.Chapter Ⅲ. The origin and distribution of the helmet-shaped vessels. Based on the research in Chapter I, the paper dynamically focuses on the origin, development and dying away of the special vessels. And then, the paper will intend to generalize the regularities of distribution and analyze the functions of the sites with the vessels of different areas.Chapter Ⅳ. Origin analysis of the helmet-shaped vessels. Firstly, make sure the main ingredients of the vessels through XRD analysis; secondly, data analysis shows the vessels can be divided into2kinds, indicating2producing places; at last, combined the previous achievements, it’s primarily concluded that the producing place would neighbor the boundary of the inland and the saline-fresh water.Ⅴ. Chapter Ⅳ. Epilog. It’s a conclusion of the paper with some problems uprising during writing.