A preliminary analysis of pottery from the Dantu site, Shandong, China: Perspectives from petrography and WD-XRF

Chemical compositional analysis using WD-XRF and qualitative petrographic analysis of pottery from the Dantu site in eastern Shandong Province, China, show that from the late Dawenkou (4100 - 2600 BCE) to the late Longshan periods (2600 - 1900 BCE) most pottery was produced using local raw materials. At the same time, small numbers of talc-tempered wares and white wares were circulated into Dantu from the surrounding region. Despite significant changes in pottery forms and surface treatments between the Dawenkou and Longshan pe-riods, there is clear continuity in paste recipes, likely pointing to continuity in production knowledge and choices over hundreds of years.