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Late Neolithic Period (c.2500-1500B.C.)
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In the Late Neolithic period, human activities covered almost every part of South China.
Sites discovered in Hong Kong include Yung Long in Tuen Mun, the headland at Sha Lo Wan on Lantau Island, Sham Wan on Lamma Island, Tung Wan Tsai on Ma Wan and etc., indicating that Late Neolithic people had exploited a larger geographic area, including hills and headlands.
The pottery of this period has impressed geometric patterns, typical of the South China region. The stone tools discovered are mainly foraging tools and weapons indicating that the people of that time still lived on hunting and fishing. Moreover, a considerable number of ornaments such as stone rings and slotted rings as well as ritual objects such as yue–axes and ge–halberds have been found. This implies that a more complex social structure had evolved. Neolithic settlers were probably living in stilted houses supported by wooden posts as a series of postholes were found at different sites.
A Late Neolithic burial ground discovered at Tung Wan Tsai North on Ma Wan yielded human skeletal remains. Studies by physical anthropologists have confirmed that the Neolithic people on Ma Wan were closely linked to those Neolithic settlers of the Pearl River region in Guangdong, and that they both were Asian Mongoloid.
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Soft pottery pot with zigzag pattern
Late Neolithic period
Excavated from Yung Long, Tuen Mun
Height: 23cm Body diameter: 25cm |
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Soft pottery pot with concentric rings pattern
Late Neolithic period
Excavated from Yung Long, Tuen Mun
Height: 13.6cm Body diameter: 13.5cm |
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Soft pottery pot with ring-foot and leaf-vein design
Late Neolithic period
Excavated from Sha Lo Wan headland, Lantau Island
Height: 16cm Body diameter: 18.5 cm |
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