Prehistoric painted pottery has recently gained a lot of traction from archaeological experts both at home and abroad as the ongoing fifth Majiayao Cultural Festival boosts international research engagement and cooperation.

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The monthlong event kicked off on July 20 in Dingxi city, Northwest China's Gansu province, featuring symposiums, exhibitions, and field trips to local archaeological sites.

The festival was named after one of the renowned discoveries in the province－the Majiayao culture－which mainly developed in the upper reaches of the Yellow River and its tributaries. With more than 5,000 years of history, the Majiayao also witnessed the glories of ancient China's painted pottery.

"Scholars have found close similarities in prehistoric painted pottery between the Black Sea area and the upper reaches of the Yellow River," says Li Xinwei, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Archaeology.

"Our joint research will focus on their potential relation and the reason why the two differed in their later development," adds Li.

Li's institute has teamed up with the Romanian Academy of Science to excavate a painted pottery site in Gansu in search of new discoveries.

Due to the similarity in the style and decoration of painted pottery in China and Romania previously, some archaeologists put forward the concept of "the painted pottery road". It refers to a possible corridor of early cultural communication between China and the West, which centered on painted pottery long before the Silk Road.

"Countries along the Silk Road have a lot in common in their painted pottery culture. The commonalities might have laid the cultural foundation for formation of the Silk Road," says Li.

China also plans to cooperate with Turkmenistan on relevant research. The joint research project will focus on the relations between common patterns like the sawtooth of the Namazga-Tepe culture and decorative designs, including cattle, sheep, and wheat in ancient China's Yangshao culture.

International archaeological cooperation on prehistoric painted pottery enjoys a long history. In 1924, Swedish archaeologist Johan Gunnar Andersson first uncovered sophisticated painted pottery in various shapes in Majiayao village, Gansu.

Over the years, scholars and experts from institutes and universities worldwide, such as Harvard University and the University of Oxford, have conducted archaeological studies and exchanges with their Chinese counterparts in Majiayao.

"The Loess Plateau was like a crossroads where multiple civilizations converged in ancient times, which has provided many surprise gifts to the archaeology world," Li adds.

Xinhua