PAN-SHAN WARE

Pinyin Banshan, type of Chinese Neolithic painted pottery. The name is that of the site in the Kansu Province of North China in which this pottery was found in a grave in 1923. As with all Neolithic ware, the dating is conjectural; but Pan-shan ware is generally considered to date from between 2500 and 2000 BC; some authorities extend the limits as far back as 3000 BC, while others believe them to be as late as the early Shang dynasty, c. 1500 BC. Most of the specimens are urns, some quite large; and a few deep bowls have been found. The body is a reddish brown; the decoration, mostly in black pigment probably applied with a brush, consists of geometric patterns or stylized figures of men, fish, and birds; and there is no glaze. Although coiling was common, some of the wares were probably shaped on a slow, or hand-turned, wheel. The handles are set low on the body of the urns, and the lower part of the body is left undecoratedas with most Greek Proto-Geometric funerary ware, to which there is a certain likeness. The paucity of Neolithic Chinese pottery at the time of the discovery gave the find an importance out of proportion to its size. Since the 1950s, however, the large amount of archaeological activity in China has placed Pan-shan in a larger framework of Neolithic Chinese ware.