Preliminary Study On Erlitou Culture Lace Mouth Round Cans

Erlitou Culture locates in the Central Plain and has a spacious range with a high level of development and a richful content. During the formation process, Erlitou Culture has learned widely from other archaeological cultures'advanced elements to promote its own development. Although it has stepped into the Bronze Culture, its cultural remains are daily potteries, stone tools, bone tools and so forth in the early period. And pottery still has an important impact on the research of marking off the archaeological cultures and types.Round-belly jar with lace mouth is a very featured kind in Erlitou Culture which appears in the first phase, develops prosperously in the second phase, declines gradually in the third phse and die off in the fourth phase. This kind of jar has typical variety and spacious scope indicating obvious characteristics of times and culture, and even can be regarded as standard vessel to judge whether one cultural remain is Erlitou Culture or not. However, it does not come from the Central Plain, and has been found in other sites of northwest area earlier than Erlitou Culture and some other cultures. Through analyzing round-belly jars with lace mouth unearthed in sites of Erlitou Culture and Northwest area, the origin of this vessel has something in common with Qijia Culture and Keshengzhuang Culture in terms of the different lace decoration. But jars unearthed in Erlitou Culture are not completely same as those unearthed in Northwest area, and have improved and created based on that. The style of attached "?" shape and zigzag clay-strips is from Qijia Culture, and the style of unattached zigzag clay-strip is from Keshengzhuang Culture, while the style of unattached rope clay-strip is the creation of Dongxiafeng Type in Erlitou Culture, the style of attached diamond and "?" clay-strips is the particular creation of Erlitou Type.The reason why this distinctive pottery style from Northwest area enters into the Central Plain is that it might be caused by environmental deterioration and war. In 4,000 B.P., the climate in Northwest deteriorated and compelled people lived here migrating to the east to arrive at east part of Guanzhong Area. The people of Qijia Culture and Keshengzhuang Culture came across the people of Erlitou Cultute who expanded toward west, causing a war between Qi and Youhu clan in Guanzhong Area. Based on this crash and communication, Erlitou Culture absorbed the Northwest jar style and made it become a part of Central-Plain civilization.