This paper presents a study of ceramics from Northwest China from the Neolithic and Bronze
Age (c. 3,300-600BCE), providing insights into variations in human-ceramic interactions over
time and space. Based on macroscopic and petrographic analysis of ceramics from ten sites,
this paper shows that there is much more complexity in ceramic technology than previously
thought. It identifies a development from a bi-modal distinction between painted fine ware and
rusticated coarse wares shared among communities across Northwest China to strongly
localized ceramic traditions with new fabrics, vessel shapes, and decorations, some of them
potentially of outside origin, reflecting considerable societal change.
