Reconstructing Late Neolithic Yuanshan Pottery Production and Interactions at Guandu, Taiwan

TSAI Che-Hsien

Late Neolithic Yuanshan Pottery have been identified at numerous sites across northern Taiwan. Despite exhibiting a broadly similar range of vessel forms across sites, Yuanshan pottery shows considerable diversity in paste recipes. This variability may reflect heterogeneous raw material sources or the multiple pottery production locations employing different resources and paste preparation methods. Such variation may be linked to the suitability of locally available geological materials, the operation of multiple production units, or the activities of different social groups and the movement of communities. In contrast, the mineralogical and chemical composition of Yuanshan pottery from the shell middens at the Guandu site, analysed using petrography and X-ray fluorescence (XRF), demonstrates a relatively restricted range of microscopic fabrics across samples with different macroscopic characteristics. This limited variability suggests that similar paste recipes were consistently employed. Given the geological variability of volcanic formations and sedimentary deposits in the region, the strong compositional compatibility between the fabrics from Guandu and several sites may indicate that either a shared production location or the persistence of a common paste-recipe tradition. Located near the confluence of tributaries of the Tamsui River, the Guandu site may have maintained more intensive connections with specific communities within this riverine and coastal exchange network. Such interactions may reflect well-established social networks among multiple sites in northern Taiwan, suggesting that Guandu functioned not merely as a consumption site but also as a hub within a regional system of pottery production, circulation, and exchange.