Speaker: Evgenia Dammer, Rathgen-Forschungslabor, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, SPK

The elaborately painted Neolithic Majiayao-style pottery is a common occurrence on hundreds of archaeological sites in the vast Chinese northwest region. It also can be found in several western museum collections; however, in many cases such pots were bought or donated and lack a proper record about their provenance or archaeological context. Therefore, this pottery is only rarely the main object of an exhibition outside China. This talk will highlight the crucial role of pottery analysis in understanding the prehistoric life and communication in the region. It will illustrate the complexity of the Majiayao-style pottery production by presenting results of macroscopic and microscopic analyses of pottery and geological materials.

The lecture will be held in English.

Free admission.