Remnants of an Ancient Kitchen Are Found in China

Early Pottery at 20,000 Years Ago in Xianrendong Cave, China

A new study recently accepted for peer-reviewed publication at:

Science 29 June 2012:
Vol. 336 no. 6089 pp. 1696-1700
DOI: 10.1126/science.1218643

Abstract
The invention of pottery introduced fundamental shifts in human subsistence practices and sociosymbolic behaviors. Here, we describe the dating of the early pottery from Xianrendong Cave, Jiangxi Province, China, and the micromorphology of the stratigraphic contexts of the pottery sherds and radiocarbon samples. The radiocarbon ages of the archaeological contexts of the earliest sherds are 20,000 to 19,000 calendar years before the present, 2000 to 3000 years older than other pottery found in East Asia and elsewhere. The occupations in the cave demonstrate that pottery was produced by mobile foragers who hunted and gathered during the Late Glacial Maximum. These vessels may have served as cooking devices. The early date shows that pottery was first made and used 10 millennia or more before the emergence of agriculture.

SOURCE

The full paper is only available to subscribers, however I found some additional info from the NYT

Fragments of ancient pottery found in southern China turn out to date back 20,000 years, making them the world’s oldest known pottery — 2,000 to 3,000 years older than examples found in East Asia and elsewhere.

“What it seems is that in China, the making of pottery started 20,000 years ago and never stopped,” he said. “The Chinese kitchen was always based on cooking and steaming; they never made, as in other parts of Asia, breads.”

Just thought I would share this. Thanks for reading.

Wow .. 20.000 years.

That pretty much screws up everything we've been told about the origins of mankind, now doesn't it ?

S & F !!

reply to post by capod2t


Reported earlier in this thread

The link

Originally posted by H1ght3chHippie
Wow .. 20.000 years.

That pretty much screws up everything we've been told about the origins of mankind, now doesn't it ?

S & F !!

Not really, before this excellent discovery we had pottery going back 14,000 years and for earthenware back to around 32,000 years ago.

First discovery of pottery this far back in that part of SE China however

Really now ?

If I'm not mistaken, the Sumer civilization is named the cradle of mankind, being the oldest civilization that did exist.

Everything before that .. people were still cavemen.

I have a hard time imagining cavemen creating pottery ..

Originally posted by H1ght3chHippie
Really now ?

If I'm not mistaken, the Sumer civilization is named the cradle of mankind, being the oldest civilization that did exist.

Everything before that .. people were still cavemen.

I have a hard time imagining cavemen creating pottery ..

Sumer was the first civilization but not the first culture

See Natufian, Catalhuyuk, Gobelki Tepe, Jomon, etc, etc

Natufian: 13.000 years old

Çatalhöyük: Around 10.000 years old

Jomon: 17.000 years

The pottery you posted here has been judged to be around 20.000 years old, which makes it many thousand years older than the cultures you listed.

Looks to me like we need to re-define "cradle of civilization" anyways.

Originally posted by H1ght3chHippie
Natufian: 13.000 years old

Çatalhöyük: Around 10.000 years old

Jomon: 17.000 years

The pottery you posted here has been judged to be around 20.000 years old, which makes it many thousand years older than the cultures you listed.

Looks to me like we need to re-define "cradle of civilization" anyways.

Oh you want older huh okay

Gravettian & Aurignacian go back further about 40,000 years

'Civilization' was defined during the Victorian area by Europeans, everything that falls outside of those parameters is considered a culture by default

reply to post by Hanslune


Yes I want older ! What's the oldest ! I had no idea. lol

Still trying to figure out the difference between a culture and a civilization but anyway ..

Thank you a lot for mentioning the Aurignacian culture, because looking that up brought me to the Wikipedia page and there was this awesome relict which they did find in Germany, and which appears to be the oldest ever found.



The best part about that is, and you just completely changed my world view, is that it ws found in Germany, in the Schwäbische Alp, ( Swabian Alb ).

I'm German myself and until 5 minutes ago, when thinking about the oldest cultures on earth I pictured some far away countries in Africa and the Middle East riding on camels, bulding temples etc ..

Now I have a hard time picturing an ancient Bavarian dude in Lederhosen jodeling while drinking beer

Originally posted by H1ght3chHippie
reply to post by Hanslune
I'm German myself and until 5 minutes ago, when thinking about the oldest cultures on earth I pictured some far away countries in Africa and the Middle East riding on camels, bulding temples etc ..

Now I have a hard time picturing an ancient Bavarian dude in Lederhosen jodeling while drinking beer

Ausgezeichnet! Du ist sehr, gern geschehen

Originally posted by H1ght3chHippie
Really now ?

If I'm not mistaken, the Sumer civilization is named the cradle of mankind, being the oldest civilization that did exist.

Everything before that .. people were still cavemen.

I have a hard time imagining cavemen creating pottery ..

Neolithic cultures created buildings, architecture, furniture, artefacts and pottery more skilled than the average human today could without specfic training as well as having domestic crops and animals. Altogether very skilled.

Here are some great examples:

Neolithic

Skara Brae

Maeshowe

Neanderthal

Modern non African humans share up to 4% Neanderthal DNA, an average of 2.5%, something that displaces 'recent out of africa' theory (it suggests no Neanderthal interbreeding).

Neandertal Genome

Originally posted by Hanslune

Originally posted by H1ght3chHippie
Natufian: 13.000 years old

Çatalhöyük: Around 10.000 years old

Jomon: 17.000 years

The pottery you posted here has been judged to be around 20.000 years old, which makes it many thousand years older than the cultures you listed.

Looks to me like we need to re-define "cradle of civilization" anyways.

Oh you want older huh okay

Gravettian & Aurignacian go back further about 40,000 years

'Civilization' was defined during the Victorian area by Europeans, everything that falls outside of those parameters is considered a culture by default

Civilization is Latin in origin, was used way before Victorians, and is used in academic faculties in varying ways, alluding to cultures and societies.

Civilization