‘Rare’ 7,000-year-old bottle — with a mysterious purpose — unearthed in tomb in China
Buried in an ancient tomb in China sat a small, distinctly shaped bottle. The 7,000-year-old bottle might look simple, but it held a mystery.
Archaeologists uncovered the bottle while excavating a tomb in the Peiligang site, according to a Dec. 25 news release from the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the China Archaeology Network.
The roughly 4-inch-long bottle has a small mouth at the top and pointed end at the bottom, the release said. A photo shows the almost teardrop-shaped bottle.
Similarly shaped bottles have been found before and are considered a representative artifact of the prehistoric Yangshao culture. These pottery pieces have been found in houses, ash pits and tombs — but their purpose is a source of debate.
Archaeologists believe these ancient bottles might have been used as water carriers, during brewing and winemaking, or for burials.
The “rare” bottle found at the Peiligang site is unique because of its abnormally small size and its age, according to an article from the People’s Daily Online, a Chinese government-run news outlet. Researchers initially estimated the bottle to be about 7,700 years old, the “earliest dated artifact of its kind in China.”
The Peiligang site is considered “one of the birthplaces of Chinese agricultural civilization,” the People’s Daily Online reported. The settlement is between 7,600 and 8,000 years old.
Archaeologists also found stone relics, fragments of ostrich eggs and other artifacts at the site, the release said. Excavations are ongoing.
The Peiligang site is in Xinzheng, Henan Province, and about 410 miles southwest of Beijing.
Google Translate and Baidu Translate were used to translate the news release from the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the China Archaeology Network.
This story was originally published December 29, 2023 at 11:04 AM with the headline "‘Rare’ 7,000-year-old bottle — with a mysterious purpose — unearthed in tomb in China."
